Deadbeat

Ex-Montrealler and MUTEK-affiliated Deadbeat (aka Scott Monteith) recently made the inevitable move, like so many North American electronic musicians do, to the European home of techno: Berlin. Much like Monolake, whom he has collaborated with in the past, Monteith also builds his music software, as well as using it expertly. Perhaps as a result of this change of location, Deadbeat's new release (simply titled Eight, after the number of tracks on the record) shows us a different side of the Canadian ex-pat's take on dub techno. Channelling some more aggressive UK bass vibes and a bit of urban Berlin grit, Eight is more stripped down, darker and moodier than 2011's Drawn and Quartered. Having previously released on labels such as the now defunct ~Scape and Wagon Repair, Monteith releases this new record, as he did with his last, on his label, BLKRTZ. Two fellow Canadian producers guest on the record: "Lazy Jane (Steppers Dub)" features the vocodered vocals of Danuel Tate and Mathew Jonson collaborates on "Wolves and Angels." Eight is a solid album of bass-heavy, tribal dub techno that employs plenty of analog synth and is among Deadbeat's strongest releases to date.