Brian Douglas – Singularity

American label Communique Records is the parent of the iconic sublabel Country Western which it has now revived for a series of cultured reissues. This one comes from Brian Douglas whose Singularity EP from 1996 has been re-sourced directly from the original DAT tapes and carefully remastered. For those who have dug deep enough, this one has long been a favourite that brims with hi-tek machine soul. ‘Torn Apart’ is a hurried deep techno cut marbled with squiggling electronic sounds and smeared pads, while ‘Rising Sun’ is more manic thanks to the unhinged acid line that busies about the mix. ‘Magic’ is a raw, hard-edged stomper and ‘First Time’ brings some tripped-out and pixel-thin synth whispers next to chords that could well have inspired Omar S.