Luca La Rocca – 18

Luca La Rocca is an Italian DJ who started his career by organizing private events from mid-2001 to 2005. Then, he started working at the 7eleven disco-pub in Montelupo, and after two years he became the resident of Electronatura party at Mulligans Pub in Montespertoli, working with other producers. He started a new project called Revolver with his friends Federico Pacciani & David Lopardo In 2012, trying to give a new conception of clubs in Empoli. In 2013 he collaborated with ICON music, and more recently with labels like Dreizehn Schallplatten (Heating Pressure and Human Error EP, 2017) and Planet Rhythm Records (Interstellar EP, 2017 and ‎Parallelism‎ with Marco Effe, 2018), delivering techno music which moved, by time, toward darker and harder territories.

Now, he presents his new work 18 with the label Dystant Recordings, born from the minds of the Italian duo The Extraverse (Antonio Russo and Rosario Napoletano) as a project dedicated to the distribution of underground techno linked to the past of the genre, but with a modern vision. Here he displays a dark and acid sound in which dark grooves and industrial motifs blend together, evoking an obsessive sound-world full of grit and chaotic soundscapes. The result is a crawling and sometime experimental work, forfeiting easy club material, in the name of freedom of expression and a coherent personal vision.

The album starts with the Title track and its noisy loops, picturing a sharp atmosphere full of tension, soon reached by sparse rhythms and percussions. A slow crescendo sees the adding of dark grooves and steady snare drums, reaching a crawling structure in which familiar techno elements are filtered by a grim soundscape. Crash test dwells in even harder sounds, using scratching effects in a fully experimental track venturing into almost dark ambient sessions. After two minutes, we find ourselves amidst a throbbing lo-fi episode recalling 70’s and 80’s experiments. Hypertension returns to techno territory, delivering sci-fi bass-lines and stomping bass sounds. An obsessive mantra is underlined by speedy snares and hypnotizing rhythmic structures, recalling the best of old-school techno.

Possible scenario explores dark techno sounds with sparse rhythms and grooving effects, opening itself up to a slow crescendo made of familiar snare drums and creepy vocals. Instead of exploding, the episode follows a path built upon controlled micro-structures and mid-tempo movements. Synthetic is an energetic track with fast tempos and thundering rhythms, another example of old-school techno motifs, displaying captivating bass-lines and spiraling solutions. It uses samples in order to prepare as for a take off during the second part of the piece, showing us a more club-friendly facet of La Rocca’s music. Variable geometry employs acid elements in an almost ritualistic rhythmic pattern full of imposing bass sounds and militant beats. Brooding soundscapes don’t prevent the usage of mesmerizing techno moments with snare son full force and stomping passages.

La Rocca shows us a sound which neither forget the past of the genre nor his own, blending his take on old-school techno with more experimental and abrasive elements, developing an album enriched by different moods and tempos. That’s not to say we have just a collection of tracks without a real structure or reason to be together: a dark soundscape underlines all of them, supported by acid motifs and sometime gritty lines. A new step for the DJ and for the label, focusing on a modern take on techno music recognizing its history and recent developments. Give it a listen!

Label: Dystant Recordings

Rating: 7