[Perspectiv]

Ripperton and Sam K have run a pretty tight ship the past couple of years with the Perspectiv label. They’ve given exposure to the audible charms of their Swiss compatriots and helped push a deep, emotive flavor of techno at the same time. Family Tree II is the second full length artist sampler for the label and with any luck it will become an annual event.

With no double ups from any of the artists here we get fourteen fresh tracks from the likes of Dana Ruh, Minz, Agnès, Estroe and the two label bosses themselves. Agnès opens the album with “Que Pena,” a bumping tech-houser set off against icy delays and an incoherent vocal worming it’s way into the track about half way through. It’s possessed of good momentum and is finely balanced between the housey bass line and more techno oriented synths. Dachshund’s “Persona” holds layers of atonal frequencies around the bottom end that give the track a distorted sense of space, which tied together with an even more unintelligible snatch of vocals makes it positively druggy. There are meticulous sound details and fills all over the place; and though the track doesn’t seem to have much direction it’s excellently executed. The minimal side of the Perspectiv ethos is catered to by Dana Ruh’s “Funkey,” simply combining a warm, muted bass sound with a couple of brief synth keys and some snappy percussion. Douglas Greed opts for a more foreboding techno angle with the brooding string and pad-fueled “Nordlicht,” while Estroe furthers this mood on “Winter Depressie” by patching a yearning, hopeful melody through a bleak tundra of low tuned chords and pitched down percussion.

While the first half of Family Tree carries an upbeat feel to it the latter portion focuses on the late night side of things. Minz, who became fairly well known in techno circles for his Perspectiv-released “Chinese Drip,” whips up a dark, laid back house number that makes good use of some deep, rounded out lower frequencies and higher percussion notes. Relative newcomers Polymorphin almost invoke a lighters-up anthem feeling with the rotund, blunted grooves of “Balloon Farm,” and Sam K provides perhaps the compilation’s standout cut with “Anderung,” an impossibly thoughtful, low slung cut that would bring any sunrise set to life. It’s damned hard in fact to find a duff track amongst the fourteen presented here; each one will appeal to slightly different tastes. Perspectiv affirms beyond any doubt their Family Tree has incredibly strong roots.