Collaborative tracks made by the unlikely duo of electronic producers Hudson Mohawke (Glasgow) and Tiga (Montreal) have been trickling out slowly since a banging rave track called Love Minus Zero first appeared in 2020 (a Bob Dylan song of the same name is not an obvious reference point). Despite being very different creatures – the younger HudMo is a famed maximalist, while cult figure Tiga is a rave veteran with a sleeker aesthetic – the two clicked. “No apology, no cynicism, no irony, no winking,” is their mission statement of sorts. This 16-track collaboration, pointedly called L’Ecstasy, functions a bit like a less in-your-face version of the Skrillex/Fred Again/Four Tet juggernaut sweeping clubland. Here, bleary, ecstatic passages break up the squelchier, ravier and occasionally more punishing highs.
The odd track out is the best: In Order 2, a melancholic wallow in goth chords whose heartbreak theme is unexpectedly disrupted by a glorious saxophone line (Wolfgang Tillmans loved it so much he provided the LP’s powdery artwork). BuyBuySell is another crisp workout defying easy classification. But there is precisely nothing wrong with the rubbery techno of Duro, or superb guest features by Channel Tres on Feel the Rush, or Jesse Boykins III on Silence of Love, either.
