[Quartz Music]

Surviving through a recession is the mark of a creature ready and able to adapt to their environment. For Paul Ritch, the recession is the down-turn in popularity that minimal has taken over the last year or two; years in which some producers have been engaging in making raw, techno battle tools or injecting maximum warmth via the deep house renaissance. For Ritch’s part, he has been slowly removing the digital clicks and whirs that helped epitomize the genre and is supplanting his tracks with a tougher approach, as evidenced on the two parts of his Canniballs EP’s on his own Quartz imprint. Part 1 of the EP was largely hit and miss, “Suffolk” coming out the strongest track of the four on offer. Part 2 is a three tracker that is stylistically consistent, but unfortunately only with the variable quality of the first.

“Bomberos” pumps out a mid-tempo Drumcode style groove and features some nicely tuned percussive sounds and light chord stabs. On the downside there are roughly chopped samples of an audience erupting with applause and a long, tenuous siren counting off time that worked for E-N back in 1995 with his “Horn Ride” hit, but fifteen years later feels a bit late to the party. “Modelo” likewise is a concoction of contrasts, from the understated, paranoid synth sequence to the hot blasts of white noise, the subtle chug of the mechanical rhythm to the overblown break downs and build ups. Although it is the strongest track on the EP, it seems for every good idea Ritch has, he takes another too far, leaving you wishing he had employed the musical equivalent of Calvin Klein’s ethos of taking off at least one item of clothing before leaving the house. “Spirit” succumbs to the very same traps as “Modelo,” which is a shame, as again, some of the parts are well crafted. In forging a new sound for himself it feels like Paul Ritch is covering up his tendencies towards producing the same bouncy, minimal tracks that won him some acclaim three or four years ago.