Beyer & Lenk feat Tiga - Heartbreak / Ananda (Novamute)
UK release date: 13 September 2004
This collaboration by renowned Swedish electronica types Adam Beyer and Jesper Dahlback (aka Lenk), and the Candian DJ Tiga - here on vocal duties - has a spare, minimal, stretched out sound that feels somewhat underdeveloped. The beats pound away, constant and throbbing, and you keep waiting for this track to go somewhere, for some kind of crescendo, for a moment of sweaty euphoria, but it never arrives. A male voice gasps H-E-A-R-T-B-R-E-A-K-E-R, panting occasionally and, though it's suitably sleazy, I was left wondering for a moment if he had one too many vowels in there.
At just over six minutes long this slice of slickly produced techno doesn't overstay its welcome, though it leaves behind a slightly sticky aftertaste and mental images of the club scene in a mid-budget movie, all strobing bodies, glistening skin and questionable outfits.
Second track Ananda initially seems like more of the same but then it confronts you with a series of sudden sharp howls, that at least don't put any further pressure on your mental spell checking abilities.
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