Picking things up where ‘EP1’ left off, Nicolas Bougaïeff unveils the next instalment in his EP series on Mute’s NovaMute branch. ‘EP2’. ‘Primal Funk’, the first track in this collection dropping throughout the first half of 2024, is a loopy, rolling track building on the feeling of last year’s ‘Primal Express’, only grittier.
As the trickling synths of ‘Primal Funk’ on Nicolas Bougaïeff’s ‘EP2’ subside, ‘Secret Room’ continues with weighty low-end and mysterious atmospheres, accompanied by sparse dream-like melodies before breaking out into tripped-out sequences. Last in line, ‘Shadow Plot’ is the darkest of the bunch, featuring low-slung grooves and foreboding sonics that build in intensity, joined at the hip with alien-like bursts of filtered acid.
A decades-long love of club music has compelled Nicolas Bougaïeff to challenge conventional wisdom, delivering genre-busting Berghain sets that expertly blend French-Canadian hip-hop with Tchaikovsky, moody techno and ambient. Launching his debut record as a producer in 2013, the Movements EP with Max Cooper, Bougaïeff has since put out a string of singles on labels including minimal techno imprint Trapez, working with NovaMute on various projects including ‘The Upward Spiral’ and accompanying remix album, ‘Higher Up the Spiral’, and parent-label Mute for his 2022 album ‘Begin Within’.
Outside his music adventures, Bougaïeff designed the controllers for Richie Hawtin’s Plastikman live tour, and in 2010 with Hawtin co-founded Liine, the software company behind the landmark used by astronaut Alexander Gerst on the International Space Station in a live jam with Kraftwerk. From his teaching – he founded the Berlin Academy of Electronic Music – to writing his PhD thesis on minimal techno, Bougaïeff is dedicated to pushing the boundaries of techno. Now, the Berlin-based Canadian Bougaïeff continues his series with another sublime selection of techno cuts.
Nicolas Bougïeff ‘EP2’ releases via NovaMute 16th May 2024, with ‘Shadow Plot’ dropping 22nd February and ‘Secret Room’ 4th April 2024.
Tracklist:
01 Primal Funk
02 Secret Room
03 Shadow Plot
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NovaMute Instagram – Soundcloud – Beatport