Review: Alan Fitzpatrick – U Said U Ep

Techno is like the blues. There's a well worn structure there, that should, by rights, have long been exhausted. Anyone can have a crack at the template – in the case of the blues it's that 12 bar framework, in techno it's the pounding roll of 909 kicks and bruised disco – and many do, without much success. But the strength of both formats is that they still encourage greatness. Alan Fitzpatrick is working with very familiar elements on the U And U EP – recognisable disco samples, huge trundles of drum, itchy percussion shake and acid basslines run through all three tracks. but he manages to sprinkle a bit of magic over the whole. On opener Love Siren the classic 'I'm in love with you' acapella from Peanut Butter gets a dust off, rising and falling above a snare drum tooled to crack craniums. Everything rises to an urgent crescendo then collapses into stomp and snap. The title track repeats the trick, but with added acid burble. Closer Rumours is a more introverted affair, made from an arpeggiated bleep like a robot having a muscle memory of dancing to Kraftwerk. 

So while U And U doesn't offer any surprises, it does prove that the simple tools of techno can, and do, sound as vital as ever.