- In naming his label The Corner, after the HBO TV show that preceded The Wire, Anthony Parasole sought to convey the "street knowledge" of his youth and, perhaps, the grittiness of his records. The name also alludes to Parasole's role in a small yet vital network: the New York techno family that includes Fred P, Jus-Ed and Levon Vincent. His techno has resonated beyond the five boroughs—he's a resident at Berghain, and has released EPs on the Berlin club's Ostgut Ton label. Parasole's debut album, Infrared Vision, arrives on Dekmantel UFO rather than Ostgut Ton or The Corner, but the same attitude remains. Infrared Vision renews the tension that runs through Parasole's music, opening the album with what sounds like a swarm of wasps around a collapsing building.
Aside from a couple of downtempo tracks too claustrophobic to be called breathers, the meat of the album is beefy techno made for dark, sweaty basements. The beat on "Explode" sounds as though it's underground, pounding the pavement from beneath. "Momentum" is tighter than a clenched fist. And few records have ever sounded as singleminded as "The Chant," where a voice repeatedly intones "bang the drum" over tribal percussion and a sledgehammer stomp. These tracks will do serious damage on a dance floor, which seems to be the extent of Parasole's vision for them.
In the process of making Infrared Vision, Parasole said he listened to jazz and hip-hop for inspiration, though something like the title track could have been made by someone who's listened to nothing but Steve Stoll and Joey Beltram records for 20 years. (Only the piano and Rhodes-led loop on "Murky Waters" carries a discernible jazz influence.) A track like "Momentum" could've come from Vincent's self-titled 2015 album, though the relatively rigid sound on Infrared Vision makes it a different beast to Vincent's more experimental and ultimately more rewarding LP. Infrared Vision is an often powerful exercise in purist, eyes-down techno. Its gaze rarely wanders.
Tracklist01. Cold Steel
02. Murky Waters
03. Explode
04. Momentum
05. Infrared Vision
06. Bizarre Part 2
07. Spell On Me
08. The Chant
09. Zenith
10. So Alive (Digital Only)