4 out of 5

Label: WéMè Records

Produced by: Binary Digit

Binary Digit excels at making magic out of limitations. To once again read too deeply into that name, we have a language of ones and zeroes that seems pretty limiting to a lay onlooker, but is essentially the basis to the anything you can do with electronics and computing.

Dedicating an EP to the club environs of Ibiza, we get a definition of island chill and drug-fueled club romps; at a glance, this makes for fun, if standard stuff: acid beats, bubbly bass, synths that slink between tippled keys and squelchy rhythms. There’s a dusting of 90s video gaming in here with the bounce of closer Overdoze In Ibiza, but overall, the EP sniffs of a lot of the Rephlex B-tier crew, or its more linear pairings from the early 00s of Warp.

However, this is Binary Digit. While you’re tapping your toe to Balearic Acid Protocol, note the light touch on the melody – the organicness to how sustained or light a note is; the live vibe of the production. Circling back around to the laidback open of Desilusion In Palma, we can hear this as well: IDM breaks massaged into the smooth rhythm, and an unpredictability to the off beats, adding a lot of space inside of what otherwise seems like a pretty straight forward tune. With this attentive POV, a couple of the more moody, bass-led tracks become essential explorations, again combining a completely accessible groove with a lot of brilliantly subtle nuance.

Due to this… the track I have trouble getting on board with is the true acid house banger of Smkndpe: this hits the club hard with a heavy BPM, and in-your-face vocal sample. It’s very repetitive, and happens to also be (by a few seconds) the longest track here. Maybe there’s nuance on this one, but it’s a little too brash for me to suss it out. If you’re feeling the club jams, though, this does the trick!

On the whole, another slyly smart drop from BD, giving us what we want from an acid-filled Ibiza trip, where “what we want” turns out to be pretty flexible.