ALBUM REVIEW: HARVEY MCKAY

Artist: Harvey McKay
Title: Machine Make Noise
Label: Soma
Format: CD
Released: December 14

Rising young star of the Glaswegian underground techno scene, Harvey McKay is nevertheless by many of the similar flavours to inspire previous Soma acts like Daft Punk, Funk D’Void and the label’s owners Slam. ‘Machine Make Noise’ is deeply entrenched in the world of Detroit techno, Chicago house and early UK innovators like LFO and Orbital, and if that’s what you enjoy then this will be right up your proverbial cul de sac.

As the title suggests, this is all about machine funk rather than dusty samples or live instrumentation, with tracks like ‘Torque’ and ‘69’ (possibly named after Detroit hero Carl Craig‘s project of the same name?) are driven by muscular rhythmic repetition, goaded along by pulsating sequencers and finished off with layers of spiraling synths.

It’s undeniably retro in one sense - you won’t find a token stab at dubstep or fidget house here, in fact there’s even a great techno workouit called ’Retro’ - but however its slant reads on paper, put the music on and you’ll find it’s still brimming with life and a neat feel for funky riffs and infectious grooviness.
7/10