Label: Meanwhile
Catalog#: MEAN009CD
Format: CD
Country: UK
Released: 2007
Genre: Electronic
Style: Techno, Dub Techno, Minimal

Murmur are possibly the most self restrained and least derivative operators in dub techno right now, and over the course of a handful of scarce twelves they've slowly gestated a frayed hybrid of minimal construction and fathomless BASS that has less in common with the hallowed Basic Channel axis then the work of most of their contemporaries. Opening track "Pansula" takes its time and slowly unfolds around aged and ragged dub chords, the analogue detritus and barely audible hum of their machines making the kind of unpredictably lovely sound you'd expect from a bank of old synths and decrepit wires slowly coming to life. "Mesh" is up next and provides the album with its clearest nod towards Maurizio complete with a rugged kickdrum and elongated dub stagger, but even here the emphasis is on self restraint and space, at low volumes adopting a kind of intense languid narcosis, becoming more propulsive, robust and exhilarating the louder it gets. "Flex" provides another Minimal variation, this time revisiting classic Klang signatures with modified Sino melodies and soft pads managing to bring to mind Baby Ford and Rob Hood in one fell swoop, while "Shift" is dominated by intense, layered dub chords, almost enveloping the track in a kind of classic fuzzy warmth that's just immense. "Bloodclot" is the most fierce offering on board, the hi-hats making their first significant appearance a good 8 tracks into the album and imbuing proceedings with a motorik drive that seems to have been honed and perfected for the Panorama Bar at peak time - staggered chords included. "Undertone" is clearly one of the years most significant dub techno releases (and it really barely fits under that bracket), a towering achievement crowning a year that's already given us essential material from the likes of the Styrax, Mojuba, SYNTH and Echospace labels, and is a perfect counterpoint to the year's other big release in this field - Deepchord's brilliant "Coldest Season". Essential Purchase.