3 out of 5

Label: WéMè Records

Produced by: ?

RTR continues their streak of imperfection: of masterfully composed / controlled releases that somewhat miss the mark.

Circle a little bit moreso than others: often doing a pretty dedicated reshuffling of glitchy Aphex / Squarepusher, RTR’s work is firstly always impressive, but there tends to be something to the flashiness that diminishes the heart of any given disc. While the idea here is sound – stepping away from that particular 90s / 00s Rephlex boogie, and doing something funkier, with an eye on being a continuous mix – the relative lack of heart remains.

This EP, for me, perhaps makes it even clearer that the issues I have with RTR are centered around production, and patience: the beats here are more reserved and sit in the background, with the artist using a forefronted smooth and boppy bass synth sound as a swap for BPM breaks, but the levels are set such that neither layer does much, either as a base level or to “pop.” And the always roving nature of RTR’s composition style is still present, never allowing a track to settle into a groove. When things are more skittery and tonally anarchic, it’s less directly noticeable, but with the pared back sound, the tracks beg to sit still for a bit; to let things ride. We don’t get that opportunity. It’s thus a weird middleground where the comparatively chill tone of the synths / beats is used for songs that are still all fitful.

The flip side of these same criticisms is that Circle has a truly unique sound. While the vibe pulls from  early, jazzy Squarepusher, cut with the dancefloor smirk of Ed DMX, RTR’s version of that isn’t as directly derivative as past efforts – it’s a pretty fresh take, juggling a somewhat retro vibe with very modern, clean production. And the same restlessness equally means there’s a new bit of funky music a second away at any point, not exhausted by a relatively short overal runtime.

Circle is a good listen. RTR is an interesting artist. Still, so far nothing has really “defined” RTR, and Circle, even though trying out a new, arguably more original approach, falls a bit further from that goal.