Colonial Patterns in Bloomington, MN

After building up a buzz with releases on
Opal Tapes
and
Wicked Bass
, abstract techno producer
Huerco S.
(
Brian Leeds
) made his full-length debut on
Daniel Lopatin
's
Software
imprint in 2013 with the magnificent
Colonial Patterns
. Similar to albums by artists like
Actress
, the album contains club tracks, but they're far from conventional, with broken loops and inventive beats that rarely stick to standard 4/4 patterns. There isn't much tonal range to the album on the surface -- all of the tracks seem to have the same sepia tone as the cover art, and much of it sounds muffled and sludgy -- but
Leeds
is a restlessly creative artist, and the album never sounds monotonous. "Ragtime U.S.A. (Warning)" is the most immediately catchy track here, with its low-slung 4/4 beat and repetitive "Warning" vocal sample. "Prinzif" is another standout, starting out with a muted thump and odd, smudgy samples before fading to a near-silent crackle and then re-emerging with warm house chords, finally arriving at a beat several minutes later. On a few shorter pieces, bass tones seem to melt under all the wavy
Basic Channel
dub echo. Elsewhere, sounds and rhythms seem to drunkenly stumble into themselves. The album's broken-ness works to its advantage, and it ends up being one of the more notable artifacts of the 2010s outsider house scene. ~ Paul Simpson