Ex_libris – ex_libris 001 / ex_libris 002

Dave Huismans’ stellar run of rule-shattering techno, broken beat and dubstep as A Made Up Sound and 2562 was defined by the inherent curiosity that charged his synth hooks and made his grooves land at the wildest angles. After seven years silence the Dutch producer is back as ex_libris, burrowing into dusky, heavy-lidded downtempo house in a natural continuation of the misfit endeavours he broke through with in the late ’00s. There’s a consistent creeping, dimly lit atmosphere to these six new tracks, spread across two separate 12”s, which chimes with the sound of Workshop Records — but where that label revelled in a Germanic economy of sound, Huismanns piles his tracks high with thick, gauzy textures and scuffed organic matter. Cloying pads, loping guitar loops, the lazy thwack of acoustic percussion and the hiss of tape all hang in the air. There’s space for strident beatdowns to satisfy adventurous DJs, not least the stunning, slow-release arc of ‘#3 (Running Out)’, but the real power in these longform, immersive constructions is the depth and emotion densely baked into the mixdown, and the humid, pre-storm atmosphere Huismans cultivates in his own inimitable style.