London’s Dan Foat and Nathan Boddy released “Droidnosh” on Mule Electronic last year as Foat & Boddy. But just because they’ve named their new project after a song on Rumours doesn’t mean the newly resurgent R & S has gone soft on us. If the pounding rhythms and undulating synths found on the first release since their rechristening are any indication, The Chain wish to have their name taken quite literally. “Letting Go” contains the sort of well-oiled machine music you’d expect from the Belgian, home-away-from-home of Detroit techno. Can The Chain take the label’s classic rave style and, like Radio Slave and Shed (remixing Steve Lawler) on its last two slabs, give us a reason to buy off the new release shelf instead of digging through the used bin for the classics?
While these two sides are on the whole more derivative than “Incognito,” The Chain handily justify their existence. On the titular A-side, a cage of sustained strings barely contain percolating, filter-swept organ stabs. Their interaction forms the track’s primary body-moving device, a damn fine one if deployed on the right glowstick-armed dance floor. I’m ’bout as ready to jack as the next guy, but I can’t help feeling over-manipulated by its myriad breakdowns, dropouts, and general massiveness. And the mix, losing its rhythmic core amidst a trancey smoke-out, sounds claustrophobic despite its few constituent parts. The B-side, however, more than makes up for any overacting. “Geo,” a classic floor stormer in the Carl Craig tradition, knows the awesome power of subtle intensity. As hi-hats twitch in between an incessant, bassy four-four throb, anticipation builds frenzy-like. But even when a soaring, reverb-laden yell — always my favorite moment on an R & S release — breaks through, The Chain refrains from a full-on explosion. If you prefer a sniper rifle to a fuel-air bomb as your peak-time weapon of choice, keep the B face-up on the platter.
Geo is dope