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VIDEO: “Water”

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STREAM: “Water”

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Russian electronic producer Anton Zap shares his hypnotic new video for “Water,” directed by Ernest Yakovlev. Check it out over at XLR8R.

“Water” will be included on Zap’s upcoming album of the same name, to be released by R&S subdivision Apollo Records, out June 18. The record will consist of a selection of previously released material, along with three brand new tracks. More information on the release below.

About ‘Water’:

One of the leading lights of a growing collection of electronic pioneers from Russia, Muscovite Anton Zap steps up with an album of gloriously deep, beautifully produced music for Apollo Records. With a background in sound engineering, a back catalogue stretching back to 2007 and a DJing career that goes back a decade further, Anton Zap’s music is imbued with a serious knowledge and understanding of electronic music – from ambient movements to the late night thump of deep house proper, here is a producer who is as comfortable making out-there space soundscapes as he is Detroit-influenced dance-floor weapons .

The collection of tracks here includes a selection of previously released material (on Jus Ed’s Underground Quality imprint and Anton’s own Ethereal Sound) going back as far as 2008, along with three brand new tracks seeing a release for the first time, and the overarching feeling is of a portrait of an artist who has been slowly, steadily carving out a singular niche.

Kicking off with the epic, ten-minutes-plus ‘Water’ Zap immediately lays down a marker for the kind of quality production we’re in store for – combining deep, brooding chords with skipping, dragging percussion and aqueous atmospherics it’s the perfect gateway into the world of Zap. By the time the second track kicks in, the listener’s already entranced – Road Trip Song is another long-format piece, again clocking in over the ten minute mark, but whereas Water is all opiate rush, Road Trip Song focuses it’s intent on the nightclub floor. House music in essence, but filtered through an industrial lens – it’s the kind of track designed to tear apart a warehouse.

Next up, Fade to What, dispenses with the kick drum and goes full on ambient – a piece of bubbling, menacing drone music that sounds beamed in from a dystopian future laboratory. Zap changes up the palette (if not the mood) on Funky Man, with it’s crashing breakbeat, two note synth bass and discordant piano parts. It again sounds like it’s from the future, an irresistible sense of movement and thrust gives this one the feel of a space chase, occasionally exploding into synthetic ecstasy before dropping back into it’s rock solid groove.

Arguably the standout track, Captain Storm is the most straight ahead, club-focused moment here, slightly slowed house music driven along by an addictive synth bass bounce and underpinned with a huge wall of shimmering noise that occasionally submerses the piece completely, before the drum machines and bass line rise back up through the artful murk. Closing the set with two tracks available here for the first time: the military-radio-infused swirling electro of Miles And More and the enormous panoramic soundscape of Miniature, Anton Zap signs off this heady collection with the same understated panache with which he begins it.

1919
Anton Zap
Water
(Apollo Records)
Street Date: June 18, 2013

Track List:

1. Water
2. Road Trip Song
3. Fade To What?
4. Funky Man
5. Captain Storm
6. Miles And More
7. Miniature

ANTON ZAP LINKS:

Twitter/Soundcloud/Label