Propulse – Knight Rider

Label: D-EdgeScore: 8/10

While Renato Ratier’s Black Belt might have received an impressive string of remixes from some of the scene’s foremost characters from the worlds of house and techno, it’s worth pointing out that his D-Edge imprint has earned their corn thanks mainly to the work of Ratier’s extensive group of house-loving Brazilians. And so it is that the label’s latest comes at us from Propulse aka Fabiano Zorzan.

And what a triumph Zorzan’s latest is. A full-length of some merit, Knight Rider is a 10-tracker of various moods and motifs; all of which are just as slick as the TV show of the same name. And right from the intro it’s clear we’re in for an intriguing listen. And it doesn’t let up either, as the gems come thick and fast. ‘’Night Life’’ is a crunchy and solid piece of tech-house that’s laden with flair thanks to its many colourful synths, ‘’Reconnaissance’’ is more weighty and atmospheric, while ‘’Keep The Frequency’’ keeps matters ticking over with a guitar-led bassline that’ll proverbially lift you off your feet.

And that’s only the first few tracks too. In that sense, the traditional ‘album format’ hasn’t really been adhered to, but what fun is convention anyway? Propulse then proceeds to conjure up banger-after-banger once more, with ‘’Swimming on Sound Waves’’ the most impressive of everything else on show. The LP does have its more deft and considered moments (check ‘’LJ Johnson’’ and ‘’Keep The Frequency’’) and the idea behind it all, as the producer proclaims, was “to capture the many moods that a night out in D-Edge Brazil entails”. If this is the sort of stuff going down there on a regular basis, then it might just be time that we booked our flights over to Sao Paulo.