A familiar name to those who like their drum & bass on the hard side, the Berlin-based Current Value earned his stripes in the late 1990s and early 2000s with a style that can only be described as a cross between experimental techno, hardcore, and drum & bass. With numerous releases on stalwarts of the dark and techno-driven side of things like Position Chrome, Barcode, Tech Itch and Freak Recordings, it’s refreshing to see the underrated producer surface on none other than Critical Music’s Binary imprint.
While it may at first seem an odd fit, it helps to be reminded that Critical Music is home to not only Ivy Lab and Calibre but also Mefjus, Emperor, Foreign Concept, and Enei. As the fourth in their newly minted “Binary” series, the sister imprint seems to be turning into the home for the more militant, sci-fi side of things, as Hyroglifics, Klax, and Billain have paved the way for the monster five-tracker that Current Value opens up 2015 with.
With tracks like “Dissonant” already receiving love from none other than Friction on his BBC Radio 1 show, fans of Current Value’s signature, techno-fused filth should be sure to cop the full release on Beatport or Critical to ensure they snag the mind-bending “Escalate,” which is an exclusive bonus only available on those two sites.