Pangaea - Bear Witness & Mosaix

1. Bear Witness
2. Mosaix

When we last left Pangaea, he'd just turned out one of the highlights (if not the highlight) of a great 2008 at Leeds' Hessle Audio: "You & I / Router." His first release for 2009—this time for Scuba's Hotflush Two—pursues the same rain-soaked, melancholy take on the jungle/garage continuum.

Meaty bass patterns and a jagged high-end give "Bear Witness" its teeth. This track, however, is more haunting than aggressive, delicate quivers of synth pad complementing the rhythm's more urgent anxieties with a contemplative wariness. Pretty and pummeling with real crossover prospects, "Bear Witness" is a thoroughly appropriate follow-up to "Router"'s emotional crescendo.

An out-of-kilter, warped-LP loop of upright bass winds through B-side "Mosaix." Even after a succession of effects and treatments melt it into something more pliable, the bluesy sample lends some gutter grit to this jazzy track. It's as brooding as any Pangaea production, with an overlay of melodramatic keys sounding faintly like French horn, but the spotlight is on tough, punchy drums.

As for the future, dubstep-obsessed internet hangouts are franticly abuzz with the imminent release of Pangaea's acclaimed "Memories" (though I tend to think "Bear Witness" is a more exciting release), and next up for Hotflush Two is new material from Untold...www.residentadvisor.net