Dan Tracy is a Toronto-based electronic music producer who runs with that cities Deep North crew, while producing various shades of techno under the name Dick Diamonds, as well as participating in the duo Hermans. Tracy also has a new release under the moniker Jerry Riggs. Fringe With Benefits is a 3-track single out now on Bravura, and it finds him teaming up with Proper Trax label head Will Azada on the cut “Eastern Block Shock Brigade“, as well as receiving the remix treatment from Bedouin Traxx on the record’s lead single.
Following a no-frills and minimalist approach, Tracy describes his working method like this:
“I put down a kick drum, get some percussion, and like a shitty gambler I just try my luck and roll with the natural flow of things. If it isn’t almost done in one sitting, the track is never finished.”
This approach holds him in good stead and on the 9-minute opener he trades dizzying keyboard stabs and echoing percussive elements over a roughed and scuffed low end. While the kick drum drives the efforts forward, and the varied rhythmic elements add kinetic flourishes, the repeating synth-line slips around the beat and the result is like dancing in quicksand. The inclination here is to move faster, but you’ll find the extra effort has you sinking even quicker.
Tracy reports that “Eastern Block Shock Brigade” started out as Azada’s. He explains:
“Will started this track and couldn’t finish it so he sent me an unfinished tune which I deleted, took the stems and put it back into the production cannon with some of my own spice and shot it into his face. He liked it, and so did you.”
There’s definitely no lack of confidence here, as Riggs bends and shapes these rhythms into an ebullient bounce. Still raw and stripped back, he uses elementary materials to create blistering and heady techno. Wicked, indeed!
The remix of “Fringe With Benefits” by Bedouin Traxx is a bit of a shorter affair than the original. Further expanding on this release’s minimalist Detroit vibe, wobbly, acid-tinged strings are brought in to play off the track’s driving synth stabs, and the results should have you feeling like your dancing in that cities famed, but long-gone Music Institute.
