Like No One

Like No One

James T. Cotton [Spectral Sound]

28 February, 2008 | 8.12AM

• Written by: Richard Brophy 2
• Filed under: Music Recommendations: james t. cotton, spectral sound

Massively influenced by Chicago house and techno, ‘Like No One’ by James T. Cotton (aka US producer Tadd Mullinix) hardly re-invents the wheel.

Having said that, there are few producers making jacking Chicago-influenced house and techno to the same standard as Cotton.

‘Like No One’ is also a welcome visceral alternative for anyone who is bored with the sterile environment of minimal techno.

There’s something raw and tangible but also mysterious and nocturnal about this collection.

‘The Second Night Cycle’ confronts the listener with jacking, clattering beats, thunderous claps and soaring acid lines, but later reveals a mysterious chord progression.

‘Got To Let You Know’ and ‘Don’t Even Try It (The Beat’) are more stripped back, driven by surging basslines, shit-kicking drums and shifting, shuffling backbeats.

The former track in particular stands out because it combines the kind of shadowy, moody bass sounds that Suburban Knight pioneered with cut-up Chicago rhythms.

Bizarrely, there are two tracks by other artists — Saturn V and 2AM/FM — in this collection.

However, the stuttering vocals and dissected, jacking groove of Saturn V’s ‘Come Into My Life’ dovetail so neatly with Cotton’s untamed arrangements that it makes you wonder if it’s just Mullinix under a different pseudonym.

The album title would certainly make more sense if it were him.

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