Dublin-based Italian producer Lerosa (Leopoldo Rosa) has been releasing low-key, unassuming techno and house since the mid-2000s. Leaving behind the more house-oriented bounce of 2011's Amanatto, he's taken a fairly deep dive into minimal electro on Bucket of Eggs, his third full-length. It's a professional and meticulously produced album that eschews grand gestures in favour of hypnotic rhythms and subtle details. Too subtle for some perhaps, but it's ultimately a rewarding listen, even if you find yourself mostly doing other things while it grooves quietly in the background.
There's certainly no shortage of Italian producers working with vintage analogue sounds these days (we are very much in the realm of Roland here), and although Rosa calls the misty streets of Dublin home, Bucket of Eggs would sit very comfortably in a playlist featuring recent work from Acid Castello, Passarani or Bosconi Soundsystem — deep, warm bass, simple but elegant melodies (although the latter are fairly scant in this case), and those Roland drum sounds that continue to find a home in the 21 century.
Things start out slowly and studiously with the title track, a mysterious deep techno cut shot through with knob-twiddling bleeps and sudden flashes of white noise Like a few other tracks, it's perhaps too long, although the soothing pads that arrive at the end of its six-and-a-half minutes probably wouldn't be such a welcome addition without the build-up. Quiet, easy-to-miss revelations like this occur throughout the album — the jazzy piano chords that appear during brief moments in "One Is Too Short" being another example.
Album highlight "Self Inflicted" is dealt with in a similar manner, hidden almost, at the end of the proceedings here. With its layered pads and chirping synth melody, it probably boasts more melodic content than the rest of the album combined — more like this would have been welcome. Indeed, the less patient may find themselves spending most of Bucket of Eggs waiting for something to happen, and although broad strokes are clearly not the point here, a few more memorable moments would have gone a long way. However, those looking for a solid, serious (and long) excursion into the acid-adjacent techno-electro nexus could do far worse than this latest from Lerosa.
(Acid Test)There's certainly no shortage of Italian producers working with vintage analogue sounds these days (we are very much in the realm of Roland here), and although Rosa calls the misty streets of Dublin home, Bucket of Eggs would sit very comfortably in a playlist featuring recent work from Acid Castello, Passarani or Bosconi Soundsystem — deep, warm bass, simple but elegant melodies (although the latter are fairly scant in this case), and those Roland drum sounds that continue to find a home in the 21 century.
Things start out slowly and studiously with the title track, a mysterious deep techno cut shot through with knob-twiddling bleeps and sudden flashes of white noise Like a few other tracks, it's perhaps too long, although the soothing pads that arrive at the end of its six-and-a-half minutes probably wouldn't be such a welcome addition without the build-up. Quiet, easy-to-miss revelations like this occur throughout the album — the jazzy piano chords that appear during brief moments in "One Is Too Short" being another example.
Album highlight "Self Inflicted" is dealt with in a similar manner, hidden almost, at the end of the proceedings here. With its layered pads and chirping synth melody, it probably boasts more melodic content than the rest of the album combined — more like this would have been welcome. Indeed, the less patient may find themselves spending most of Bucket of Eggs waiting for something to happen, and although broad strokes are clearly not the point here, a few more memorable moments would have gone a long way. However, those looking for a solid, serious (and long) excursion into the acid-adjacent techno-electro nexus could do far worse than this latest from Lerosa.