Blue Vitriol – The Beach [1999; Xiphoid Process Records]

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Downtempo dub with a light chiptune dusting opens this EP in its title track, firm but mellow percussion jiving with light-touch keyboard echoes and sinuous tone-holds.  After a hard break, it carries on the chill atmosphere, but puts phasing to play in a prominent way, while a bass loop rolls about and things come undone in an organized fashion.

“Slab” speeds things up by way of hi-hat shakes, drilled drum samples, and more, while dropping in vocal samples about coming to terms with being dead, and “Pomponio” keeps the acceleration moving while lacing in jittered speech and ethereal string.  Quick but very solid, and one of the higher-consistency entries in the duo’s too-short catalog; also notable for being (apparently) the only release on the Xiphoid Process Records label.

Various Artists – Camping [2005; BPitch Control]

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Twenty tracks of off-beat techno pack this label sampler, with chill vocals, dribbled beats, stiff clicks, and melting synths drifting together.  Bits of chipbreak, acid house, electro, and other flavors bubble up from the dozen or so contributing acts, and while the tempos and action occasionally become frenzied, the music rarely loses its sense of controlled cool.  That also helps bind the diverse tracks together across their range of fluctuations and stutters, building a sense of the label’s style on the whole (extensive sampling of Kid Rock associate Joe C. in Housemeister’s “Do You Wanna Funk” aside).

One of the strongest points in the compilation’s favor, though, is the openness the musicians show to bringing in single points of divergence to the rest of the song’s shaping, like the injection of Mediterranean strings into electro, or post-punk bass lick loops combed into house rhythms.  Though few of the featured artists have stuck with the label to the current day (with owner Ellen Allien’s plentiful output being the prime exception), the general attitude of the music gives a clear sense of how BPitch Control presented themselves at the time, even with the quick turn-about offered by the musical switch-ups.