2 out of 5

Label: Rephlex

Producer: DMX Krew

7″es normally are, but we’ll specify that this is collector’s only.  DMX Krew seems to right a fairly standard breakbeat electro that draws from 80s house and works effectively over the course of an album, the playfulness around any given beat gaining listening weight as the runtime goes on.  Boiled down to single tracks, there’s not much to chew on.  Volume 1 went with the better track (in my opinion) on the B side, here, if you’re listening in order, we start off pretty well with ‘Flanging.’  This might actually be the best track in the 7″ set – it’s pretty straight-forward beat-wise, revolving around that ragga-ish baseline that’s used for both 7″es, but it appropriately builds and releases and waits to pull out some tricks until the latter half of the song and, most importantly, actually seems to have a beginning and end.  Balancing this out, though, is the overlong B-side, which does nothing.  Same core inspiration, stripped pretty far down, and allowed to run its course, nothing to divert your ears in the process.  Since it’s a longer track, it’s enough to drag the tail end of this 7″ experience down below the level of average into tedium.  On an album, you can hide this as an extra track or buffer it with better works, but it’s an interesting choice for a single or to separated on vinyl as such, and thus – collector’s only.