4 out of 5

Label: WéMè Records

Produced by: Nicolas Lepage

A few years in to RTR’s release history, and what do we know? 1. That RTR lives and breathes a fully realized version of the glitchy snare rushes and drum and bass that nestle between Samurai Math Beats and Windowlicker, and 2. that RTR goes hard.

Many are influenced by these albums and their creators, of course; RTR has existed on a fine line between mastery and mimicry, sometimes referencing a bit too hard, but also always finding their own agenda. This leads into the second point, though, which is that extreme BPMs and shattered electro can be pretty mind-numbing at length.

On the one hand, Riding on District Line II is further proof of RTR having finally crossed a line into making this project / sound wholly their own, and in this case – going a little bit beyond! The A-side of RoDLII is full of the all-out beat assaults that is the artist’s brand, but with a dash of funk and silliness via some disruptive acid squelches to inject fun into the madness. Over on the B-side, Line II pulls out a Richard D. James’ album bit of caucophony, letting the track revel in some pretty divisive noise before diving in to killer, weighty acid. The closing track follows on this moodier thread with some grime elements.

All the tracks are awesome. …They are also all very typically non-stop, and even to an extent that a relatively short EPs worth of material can require a break before giving it another spin. It’s subjective to knock the release for that, perhaps, but I do think that’s where RTR wavers a bit in their approach: just a drop of breathing room could help this already raised roof to keep from collapsing by record’s end.