NO DRAMA VOL. 3 LP

Description

No Drama, the label founded by Roy Rosenfeld, arrives at its seventh release with the third edition of its various artists series. The imprint was built as a space where an artist is asked for a point of view rather than a formula, and the compilations are where that idea is easiest to hear. Four producers, four scenes, one running order. No Drama Vol.3 spans just over twenty-nine minutes across four tracks, released on vinyl and digitally. Rapanui opens the record, and Rosenfeld takes his time with it. The first ninety seconds move without a kick drum, setting the space before the groove arrives. The track works toward an early peak, then empties out into a breakdown that runs a full minute and a half before the percussion returns. It closes the way it opened, with the drums stepping back and the texture left exposed. Famous pairs Khen and Makebo. Khen has been working this sound out of Tel Aviv for more than a decade, long enough to run his own imprint alongside it. Makebo, Barcelona based, runs his own label and works the more atmospheric end of the same scene. The groove is present from the first bar. Tension is held rather than released, the breakdown placed late and kept short, and the track carries its full weight through to the close. Kalyan comes from Zankee Gulati, based in Sydney and now a regular across the Australian and South American festival circuits, where he also co-runs his own event series. The track is direct and built for the floor. A single breakdown arrives just before the four minute mark, brief enough to work as a lift rather than a pause, and the groove holds from there to the end. Closing therelease is Don't Play With Me by Eugenio Dorrigo, from Rosario, Argentina. It is the most relentless piece here, with no real breakdown at all. The arrangement climbs steadily, reaches its highest point in the final minute, and finishes with everything still running. No Drama Vol.3 collects four different answers to the same brief. The catalog continues as it started, independent, unhurried, and built around the artists rather than the format.