Acid/Techno/D&B alchemy: Sequential by GEST and Quadrant & Iris
GEST continue their techno-tinged crusade on Shogun Audio, this time with Seattle stalwarts Quadrant and Iris. Together, they deliver us Sequential – a rolling, stripped back single that weaves its syncopated melody through 4 minutes and 50 seconds of Detroit-soaked goodness.
The intro warms up with a driving beat as the track’s definitive hook slowly reveals itself through a mesh of dreamy pads, right before plunging us into heads-down territory. The addictive melody pushes and pulls around the backbeat again and again (but never seems repetitive or overused), skirting constantly on the boundaries where techno, acid house and drum & bass somehow meet.
In defiance to the DJs that only play the first 16 (something Iris has lamented tongue-in-cheek more than once), listeners and DJs alike will be rewarded for sticking with Sequential through to its end. A shift in the main hooks delivery and anthemic (if understated) house stabs make for a rousing change of pace for the second drop that solidifies the track as a wily display of musical alchemy, cherry picking from genres to create something new, exciting, and impossible not to dance to.
Sequential by GEST and Quadrant & Iris is OUT NOW on Shogun Audio
Words: Ru Brooks