Random Circuits

Onur Özer - [Valt1] (buy)

Valt 1 is a limited edition vinyl only series from the heads at Vakant, the Berlin based house and techno label which is run by Alex Knoblauch and Stephan Bolch. Always on top of their game Vakant boasts some good, solid releases with names like Alex Smoke , Mathias Kaden & Onur Özer leading the way. This new vinyl only series comes on a limited edition, one sided slab of black wax. For me there couldn’t be a better person to kick of the series than Onur Ozer his style is quite unique and very appealing, after great success with his 2007 album “Kasmir” Onur is back with his unique style and doing what he does best.

The track itself is just titled Valt 1 so basically its untitled or just goes as a number as Valt is the label and not the name of the track. Those familiar with Onur’s style will probably know what to expect, if your not so familiar here’s a great way to start. Onur is Istanbul’s answer to house and techno but always with an experimental touch along the way, this Turkish born producer is at the peak of his career at the moment with his live set up that he takes world wide then, he claimed to fame with tracks like “Red Cabaret” & his album, ”Kasmir” which i mentioned earlier.

Valt 1 is a ten minute meander through middle eastern music, Onur creates a unique atmosphere with slick loosely timed percussion on top of a pitter patter of drums and some eerie synth work that lingers in the background. The percussion is similar to Shackleton and the layering is not too far from a epic Villalobos workout. He continues with this only to bring some perfectly time vocal snippets of a crowd all jeering and shouting it’s like half way through the track you stumble across a middle eastern street market, this eventually fades out and back comes the loose percussion, Tambourines, Hi Hat’s, Marimba’s and other instruments are used to create a really good vibe. All the time this is going on he is building up to a wonderful climax where he layers the drums, vocals and the percussion perfectly. Like a Villalobos workout this has to be played quite loud to feel the full effect and to really feel the depth and hear every component ticking over like clockwork, and like any good workout this needs a lot of plays which it’s certainly going to find here. Great start from a promising new label.

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