Sensate Focus

This is the fourth twelve-inch release in the Sensate Focus series, originally released anonymously, but now known to be the work of Sheffield, UK minimal/glitch producer Mark Fell. The series was conceived as an avenue for Fell to pursue his experimental take on house music. Tracks from the first three twelve-inches in the series were recently released in remix form on last month's Sentielle Objectif Actualité album, released under the producer's name on Editions Mego. The first Sensate twelve-inch was a collaboration with Terre Thaemlitz, but this time the collaborator is Sheffield DJ and Warp veteran Winston Hazel. With each A- and-B-side simply titled "X" and "Y," respectively, Sensate Focus is deliciously minimal house in content and presentation. "X" builds gradually element by element, starting out with a simple tom pattern, then come the 707 claps, joined by a deliciously aquatic bass line and finally the skewed vocals. If Raster-Noton released house music, it would sound a little something like this. This is an exciting reimagining of a classic form.