Like house music? Like experimental, explorative, exciting house music? Then Nutrition could be the duo for you. Eli Coppock and Toby Mason are debuting their three track EP, Conditions, and it’s a heavy rave-centric groove-filled affair.
Byron Bay duo Nutrition deliver a healthy diet of cosmic synths on Conditions. The intricate and experimental EP is a testament to the pair’s gusto.
Water Colours is the first track on the EP and opens as you might imagine: twinkling trickles of noise dropping from a cosmic realm above, falling down into the steadily building quagmire of synthy bass that bristles and grows like the awakening of a raucous new morning. You got that? The steady heart-like beat of a drum keeps time quietly in the background as the noises and samples swell and dissipate amidst the patted throb. At 2.42 min it’s a short but structured introduction to the EP; an ethereal vision contained within a slice of sonic experimentation.
Soluppgång (Pt. 1) picks up where Water Colours left off, with the same slowly building synth and airy drips. But there’s a siren at play here and a crackling vinyl sample. The tension is palpable and comes to the fore much more quickly thanks to a rapid and steady drum sample that plays throughout. Layers of synth and noise are piled on top of the beat, as echo-y whispers collide around the cacophony of sound that the duo has created.
At the very core of the track there’s a hint, just a hint, of the trappy EDM style of music that is so favoured on the Balearic Isles or in the muddy fields of Eastern European festivals – clearly the Byron boys are influenced by hard and heavy house music, and the lead single from the EP pays an obvious homage to that. Classic techno synths and house beats worm their way through the nine minute barrage, as it pummels towards the euphoria tinged closing third. Played in the appropriate setting, this track would be sure to leave you pulsing. The single is titled Soluppgång (Pt. 1) – we’re intrigued to see what will follow.
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The final track, Conditions, begins with a warped synth that sounds a little like heavy breathing. The snare drum comes in, off beat and almost out of sync until a brief flash of a laser-like siren signals for the rest of the kit to kick in. Sirens build, sounding exactly like a boiling kettle, and then just as we reach 100 degrees Celsius that familiar 4×4 beat re-enters.
Conditions is another interesting and unique track from the pair, and they’re not afraid to play around with its construction. There’s lasers, kettle samples, synths, drums that start and stop sporadically, and sirens a la Todd Terje that are blended together in an ambitious seven minute offering. The EP wouldn’t be complete without a drop and it comes at the end of Conditions. The EP is lyric-less yet manages to carve out its own distinct narrative.
The boys are clearly talented. Whilst they’re indebted to the house, garage and techno sounds of old, they are also very keen to explore the ways in which they can push the boundaries of these genres and create really interesting and unique sample-centred music.
