Point Of View – Dooflex

Learning that the mighty Doof label had set up this new offshoot to address cleaner, slinkier progressive fullon sounded pretty far out, but it takes less than a minute into the first track, Psypilot’s Pgeofu!!onptechtranz (sic) (honestly!), for this to make sense. The production is deep and expansive, and the sounds have perfect balance with nice deep squelchies (think Sensient) working nicely alongside fluffier topend tickles (think Freq). Quantize’s Strange Days has a vibe like an anthem bubbling under, like a tune being brought in by the DJ underneath a minimal groove. Blanka is one of my favourite artists at the moment, well looking forward to the new album (innit), and if Infinity (RMX) is anything to go by, it’s gonna be a nice one. It starts out springy and sproingy before falling into a bad mood, chucking in some neat samples and featuring breakdowns with utterly amazing drops. Its energy almost makes you forget that it’s supposed to be a more progressive tune, particularly on the final run. U-Recken’s Tatiana starts out great, falling into a perfect groove that marries a hard, pacey rhythm section with smooth and floaty mids and tops. Easing and teasing like a good blowjob, it brings in a nice smooth vocode that sits under the rest of the tune. Wicked, you think: it’s not going to go all vocal. And then it goes all vocal, only for a minute or so but it’s a minute too much for this reporter. It absolutely marrs a perfect tune, but luckily I’ve managed to edit it out using Soundforge. Clever me. Blanka steps back up with VTV, sounding almost like dub with its deep reverb-drenched layers. Not his best, it takes a good long while to get going but once it does, the balance between wiggle and stomp makes you want it played on a big system, immediately. Mind Complex’s Love Thing moves in the mist beautiful and fluid way, but keeping a nice outdoorsy ‘ardman kick. The peaks and drops are pure poetry on this one. Zion’s Sahara works right through the gnarliest of buildups, then smacks into a rather euphoric, hands in the air section, before shifting to a shuffled quantize groove. Quantum pops up with Blitz, which has a clubby and plinky sort of vibe to it, a deep movement sort of like shovelling sand. It’s got some interesting touches and I’m sure at the right time it would work nicely, but to me it seems like there’s just too many ideas in here. Finally, Blanka’s Once In A Life (remix) and it’s got a perfect, fat-faced groove which fits with psyreviews’ favoured sideways indie dancing. Gregorian Chant-sounding vox drifts in and out, while the other sounds conspire to squeeze out every last drop of chasing-the-sun good-natured stomping. A neat compilation and a very nifty sound which we look forward to seeing develop throughout the year. Fresh.