Four EP

Returning to the Plus 8 fold once more, Paco Osuna is one of Spain’s finest electronic exports. Having made a name for himself with a residency at Amnesia over a decade ago, he’s since gone on to play places like Watergate, fabric and Movement Festival, all the while holding down a residency for Barcelona’s Club4 night at City Hall. His experience in the studio goes way back, too, with releases on Drumcode and Minus as well as Mindshake - the techno imprint he founded in 2005. The Osuna sound has never strayed too far from the pulsing heart of the dancefloor - despite investigating everything from dark and fierce to stripped and raw techno - and that’s the case once again on his Four EP… Opening with ‘Atopisimo’, unbalanced kicks strike a forceful pose immediately: from there, scattered glitches, dry claps and a churning percussion line flesh out the sturdy beat framework as the track rumbles on with tribal intentions. Come the disorientating breakdown, it’s occult and atmospheric before things push on once more, brushing various male vocal inflections aside in the process. ‘What That’ again displays Osuna’s propensity to make heavy basslines; this one cut up by sonic rips and ticks as it sways up and down. It’s forceful, but nevertheless warm and organic enough to pull you right into its midst. ‘Jackathor’ comes on like a distant train, the draw of a cycling percussive line ever harder to ignore as it grows louder. It’s economical techno embellished with just the right amount of tweaks and FX to bring the propulsive rhythms to life, as is the more clipped but equally driven closer, ‘Pum Pum.’ This, his fourth EP for the label, is arguably his strongest yet, and it speaks not only of continued innovation in Osuna, but of continued excellence in Plus 8.