Five urging bass hybrids from Lyon’s producer and electronic activist LeTo, where he shows his ability to bring gun finger energy in all genres, to be released on the French imprint Syrinx Music
Busy subs for exigent minds. Already strong from a series of releases on two veteran French labels repping the hardcore continuum aesthetics, namely Automatisms on the Paris based [re]sources and Survival Matter on Hubwar’s own Noizion, the Lyon mainstay bass artist LeTo is back with a new five-tracker for the rising imprint Syrinx Music. Born during the COVID-19 pandemic, this experimental label was imagined by multimedia artist and electronic producer NO3sis and the abstract/electroacoustic duo Haxo, made of Jeanne Gorisse-Maerten on double-bass and SeekSickSound’s head honcho Background on machines. Following the label statement, the aim of Syrinx is to put out fresh electronic sounds which are breaking boundaries between improvised music and steady, danceable efforts, and to make tangible connections with digital and visual arts toward a widely open-minded generation. As they say: « blur lines between noise and breakbeat, electroacoustic and bass music, improvised music and techno, thinking about these styles in terms of spectrum, rather than frontiers ».
Thinking music beyond its accepted stoic stances and regardless of its genre affiliations, that is something Florent Torres aka LeTo is pushing to a paroxysm, even if his sound can be mainly attached to UK’s electronic history. An endless taste for hybridization is at the core of his musical manifesto after ten-plus years of bringing it to life both as a DJ and a producer. He is known to be a founding member of Lyon’s bass music collective TLC (True Lyon Crew) with his long-time friend Nasty J (who also released music on POLAAR and more recently, an acclaimed new EP for Noizon). The pair now runs a series of events across the alpine city entitled Leftover Dubs, with which they collaborate with many emerging and revered figures of the French bass music family.
On Years Meandering, his forthcoming EP for Syrinx, LeTo shows all his playful ability to melt tempi, genres, and rhythmic cells into a collection of five club-ready sword beats that have been smithed into an alloy of Grime, Dubstep, DnB, Breakbeat, and Deviant Dancehall. It results in an exciting and noisy feature, where complex drum patterns and deep subs are varnished with welcomed attention to sound design details and android-like synths arrangements. Never stuck in a genre area, as to pay respect and fidelity to Syrinx’s will to remain an open platform for divergence and experimentation, this short album really gives the feeling of a rightful amounted balance between youthful sonic energy and a mastery of all technical elements, making Years Meandering one of LeTo’s most mature musical effort to date. Going from the dark and ghostly ambiance of the DnB-infused tune “Unbuild” to the melodic poetry of the breakbeat-to-techno-influenced “Flat FM”, the EP explores all kinds of sound fierceness.
Above this article, you can now stream LeTo’s deviant dancehall baroque anthem “Meander”, which reunites all we said above regarding the concept of a risk-taking genre surpassing, where the producer is calling neck-breaking drops where we can distinguish even some Dembow / Reggaeton influence before let our ears loose themselves back into a cascade of crystalline keyboard ostinatos and hi-pitched open hats. Built around a 105 BPM syncopated riddim of rebounding wobbles and elegantly layered snare shots, the track is a great example of the Lyon artist creating multiple sonic plans in the run of only four minutes. Hybrid is the new grid!
Syrinx Music will release Years Meandering by LeTo on next June 28th, 2023. You can pre-order it on Bandcamp.
