Protassov - The Ride '2020

Tracks list

Journeying through the surreal No Man’s Land between percussive
electronica and ambient funk, The Ride is relaxing and unsettling in equal
measures. For the DJ/dancefloor there is Protassov’s signature dominant
beat throughout: heavy, upfront and uncompromising. The melodies are constructed
from a bewildering array of sources – including live instruments - with a
structure that demands repeated and careful listening. This is electronic dance
music as fine art.

What makes this EP fascinating is the attention to detail. The choice of samples
and sounds is elaborate and unexpected. The obsessive processing of each noise
reveals Protassov’s microscopic fascination with the parameters of
engineering. And throughout, there is a hyper-sensitivity to the precise balance
between the weight of the beat and the finesse of the melodies.

The EP opens on deceptively familiar territory. “At The Freakshow”
comes in hard with a grinding, slow electro break; the crunchy snare funks
things up nicely. As it progresses, however, the ecstatic synths, glitching soul
samples and edge-of-ear arpeggios turn this groovy tune into an unnerving and
distinctly trippy experience.

Slowing things down for “Dance Like That”, Protassov offsets ambient
synth waves with jittery notes and hints of drill. Somewhere in the far distance
an old skool rave sample screams its way towards us until it bursts in the room,
staggering the mashed ravers into action, before Protassov returns them to the
womb of the mellow.

The opening grimy synths of “March of 100” and its insistent hiphop
beat do not prepare us for a mystical prog rock evolution. Suddenly we are
riding on a magic carpet out to some smoky souk in Cairo. Before we know it, the
vision has dissolved like a hit of hashish in a lunch-break. Protassov’s
finely-tuned engineering of the guitar in this track reveals his long love
affair with the instrument.

“The Ride” begins like a dusty rip of a long-lost gramophone record,
before a fog-horn baritone sax pulls us down underwater. We’re at a live
jam session at an old blues bar at the bottom of the sea, with the reverb set to
“abyss”. Protassov pulls us back to the surface with some crisp
snare-driven breaks, until drunken synth lines emerge to duel with the sax and
to send us back to the deep. The sax player on this track is cabaret virtuoso
Andreas Booter, improvising live on the beat with no edit.

On “It’s OK!” we stay dusty and analogue. A hypnotic
xylophone drips melancholy; a rainy walk in the park in alienation-land. A siren
voice promises warm illusions, but the beat keeps us out walking in the cold.

The last track is a minimalist, musical statement of unmistakable regret.
Protassov’s simple guitar notes are achingly intimate, underpinned by a
repeated minor piano chord - the ticking of a clock that cannot be turned back.
“We Solve Problems Later” indeed…

This set is a deep listening experience with powerful rhythms and moments of
gratifying emotional intensity. Protassov has spent long in the studio and it
shows - the tracks reward total immersion to experience each and every detail.
They are the statements of a musician, crafted obsessively. So set aside your
consciousness, dust off your boots and get ready for… The Ride.

Tracklist:
01. Protassov - At the Freakshow (4:06)
02. Protassov - Dance Like That (3:47)
03. Protassov - March of 100 (3:06)
04. Protassov - The Ride (4:44)
05. Protassov - Its OK! (3:46)
06. Protassov - We Solve Problems Later (2:18)

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