Arcane – The Lost Tapes LP (Citylife Records, Cityliferecords013)

Our Wednesday selection: Arcane – The Lost Tapes LP (Citylife Records, Cityliferecords013)

Arcane has been on a long musical journey since he bought his first record player back in 1999. The native Pol was influenced by rave music before that, however, as his family moved to Germany when he was only five years old. As a teenager he became more infatuated with the scene and started to produce.

In the mid-to-late-2000’s, Arcane started to take off with backing from artists like DJ Rush, Marco Remus and Robert Natus. His production style is eclectic with techno at the heart of his work. This album is a testament to not only the development of him as an artist, but the changing of sound throughout the scene over the years.

‘The Lost Tapes’ is an homage to his Arcane alias, and these will be the final tracks he releases under the persona. This 23-piece album is taken from tracks that he had stored away on his hard drive between the years 2007 – 2019. Being as such, it is difficult to pin point an exact sound throughout the project; it is more of a journey through time and genres rather than an all-encompassing piece.

We can hear and feel the different influences of the age, with each track presenting a different zeitgeist. The album may have an eclectic feel, but techno and booming percussions are the ever- present feature. A number of the opening cuts have a minimal / deep tech feel to them, with big builds through interesting toms and snares, in order to get a crowd pumping and into a frenzy. The album develops and we see his interest in rolling beats and static sounds take hold, making use of repetitive loops and ever-changing filters. Although there may be tech house elements in some tracks, he paradoxes this with underground synths and flat beats. We can see a lot of rhythm and melody in the first half, this may be down to his early hip hop influence.

As the piece progresses, it seems so too does Arcane. He grows with his sound and we can see this in the journey we take with him. His beats start to have a bit more body and heavy percussion to them, as we get a sense of EBM. The cuts seem to be getting darker and percussions heavier, taking a step into more underground sounds, all the while still having dancefloors at heart with big builds. By the time we get to the track ‘Revenge’, it seems to have divulged into a full techno album. He uses ambient elements to keep a melodic style and contrasts them with punchy percussions to get your feet moving.

He evolves further, and we can see a man with a progressive style and many talents. The tracks begin to have a faster pace and break beat elements, reminiscent of his early 90s rave influence, even a slight sense of hardstyle. Still he holds true to his big builds to create tension, and even adds in some menacing synths and crunching static sounds. It ends on an experimental track, showing the true width and breadth of his production talents.

This will be his last album as Arcane, so be sure to make some noise in the clubs with this album. He wants to thank everyone for the fantastic years and their loyalty, and this is his way of expressing that gratitude.

Tracklist: Arcane – The Lost Tapes LP (Citylife Records, Cityliferecords013)

01. AAAA
02. Wistful
03. Lost and Found
04. Cold Days
05. T800
06. Not Dead Yet
07. Balenciaga
08. Raveyoli
09. Arrival
10. Signal Intrusion
11. Salty Times
12. Brute Force
13. Exploit
14. Destructive
15. Numb
16. Revenge
17. Sin
18. XKey5core
19. XKey5core (Remix)
20. XKey5core (Repaint)
21. Zoe God
22. I Say
23. No Future No Past

Buy release: Digital
Listen on: Spotify