Top EP: ‘Creatures by Monday’ by Van Valen

Top EP: ‘Creatures by Monday’ by Van Valen

14 August, 2008 | 8.43AM

• Written by: Amanda Connon-Unda
• Filed under: Music News: mateo murphy, van valen

Rob Van Valen, who is currently living in Berlin, is the man behind this great EP.

He is also known because of his odd dots project, which he says allows him to toy around with sound design using ideas influenced by old video games and cartoons.

Van Valen has previous releases on New York’s Wolf+Lamb, and now with Archipel he brings us the very sleek ‘Creatures by Monday’.

The first track on this EP by Van Valen is called ‘Cannibal Orgy’.

It starts out smooth in a minimal tech-house vein and builds steadily with wobbly goodness.

A little bit of off-kilter smooth dub-infusion is welcomed into the track.

While it sounds almost like it belongs on the Poker Flat label, the quirky sounds he adds in are wonderfully refreshing.

‘Riot in a Red Coat’, remixed by one of Montreal’s finest DJs and producers, Mateo Murphy, is full of extra strength distortion.

It has a heavier vibe, that makes the track instantly dancefloor-ready.

The track culminates in a frenzy of spinning sounds, heavy bass lines, and drops into an arrangement of rhythm that comes in louder as the heavy distortion is drowned out finally into oblivion.

‘Robot Destroy’ has mellow beginnings with soft rhythms and subtle melodies that are maintained throughout the track till its end.

A vocal comes in which sounds like a robot moving slowly and smoothly in an elegant dance.

The sounds, while poetic and moving, remain machine-like.

The track reminds us of the elegance and temporary warmth of machines, and yet it ultimately reminds us of their too-rigid and cold nature. 

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