For BNR, Taube represents the new energy of Berlin, one driven by high BPMs and a no-rules approach that breaks out of the city's entrenched formalism. His first two EPs for the label melted minimal, happy hardcore, and IDM into an increasingly sharp, crystalline edge. With his third EP "Inhale, Exhale," Taube serrates the blade for rougher, more irreverent cuts that thrillingly - if not violently - tear up the club.
Opener "I'm Future" retraces a proto-hardstyle through piano stabs and Looney Tunes samples evocative of the early 90's pills that oldskool ravers reminisce over in the Youtube comments of "BANGIN' tunes!!!!!" And bangin' tune it is, already a staple of Boys Noize and VTSS DJ sets, and a perfect tool for our holographic present where past and future collapses into a single shape. "Feel Me" pushes the exhilarating disrespect even further by twisting IDM into Intelligent Donk Music, with a bouncy, stuttering arrangement that constantly surprises.
The EP takes a turn with title track "Inhale, Exhale," distorting functional hard house into a techno-tilted synapse sizzler. As if reflecting the cardiac strain of the ravers in realtime, the breakdown is a bitcrushed heartbeat that sluggishly struggles to survive. It's a stroke of brilliance from Taube before the stroke-inducing drop. Closer "Fuck This" flexes into a more digital Digital Hardcore, with erratic, atonal exercises of rhythm and cold distortion. Whether Taube is exorcising demons or conjuring them is to be determined, but the "Inhale, Exhale" EP proves that saying "fuck this" is not only a rejection, but an embrace of new freedoms. And sometimes, it's those two simple words that open the door to your best work yet.
1. I’m Future 2. Feel me 3. Inhale Exhale 4. Fuck This
Digital
June 16, 2023
BNR229