[Klockworks]

Private press labels — those insular imprints built primarily to house an artist’s own work — offer something akin to a Fortress of Solitude for their owners. When Shed, Swayzak, Villalobos or Levon Vincent wants to release a record unbound by the expectations of label owners and their bean counters, they retreat to their respective private press labels and turn their unadulterated visions into a vinyl realities. And when such a label invites an outsider into their hand stamped fiefdom it can be interpreted as a sign of great respect towards the invitee. If most label additions are unsurprising (Reboot and Los Updates on Sei Es Drum, Norman Nodge on MDR), the name emblazoned on “Klockworks 05” is sure to raise eyebrows. The first outside artist released on Ben Klock’s self-styled Klockworks label is the virtually unknown DVS1, a Russian born, Minneapolis-based producer most often affiliated with his Hush promotion company. Any concerns about letting an American (and a Midwesterner not from Detroit, to boot) take the reins will surely be allayed by caliber of “Klockworks 05.”

You wouldn’t know it from listening to the record’s three cuts, but “Klockworks 05” is DVS1’s debut release. More obvious is how its contents are informed by the stripped back, pragmatic techno the label usually furnishes and the work of Detroit architects Robert Hood and Jeff Mills. “Searching” alternates between despondent bloops and tensely coiled bass guitar licks redolent of Marc Houle, its anxious atmosphere underpinned by purring organ chords and skittish hi-hats. Halfway through he frees the bass to tip-toe up and down the scale in chromatic steps, a pacing sentry guarding the exit. Chromatic phrasing is in fact common to all three tracks. A lilting progression courses through “Floating” like wind whistling through tree branches, flowing between splashy ride cymbals and insectoid hi-hats. “Running” likewise evokes existential dread with its fidgeting dual leads. Admittedly, there’s not much wow factor or innovation in “Klockworks 05” (a trait shared with rest of the series), but you can see how a dingy warehouse party could be kept aloft by this rookie producer’s work. Expect to hear more from DVS1.