Limited Resources Label was launched last year by Wisconsin artists Chants and Gator Preserve with the fun idea that they would put out short releases by themselves and fellow producers with prompts limiting their resources and hopefully pushing their creativity to deal with those limits. After putting out EPs themselves last year, they now turn to Wisconsin producer drowt for LRL003.

drowt is a producer/drummer who has mostly worked in ambient music for most of his career, so for this project LRL didn’t give strict instrumental or sample-based parameters, they simply challenged him to make a four-on-the-floor techno project. Well, I’m certainly glad that they did, because this release works so well that you might have assumed that drowt has been making this music for twenty years. While this is still just aa five-song release, the project is actually coming in around the thirty minute mark, because drowt is treating this as much like a deejay set as he is an EP. By that I mean that there is a continuous flow from start to finish, without gaps between the tracks, and the beat remains pulsing and the basslines funky while the melodic elements swirl and develop and take you on a journey while you’re getting sweaty on the dancefloor. The music has a darker tone to it, as drowt is taking that traditional Detroit techno and adding in some bits of industrial, disco, and house. Most importantly, though, drowt knows how to structure everything you have these ebbs and flows to the music, so it’s not just one note or energy level the entire time. It builds, it breaks down, and then pushes you to dance even harder.

LRL003 is a great addition to Limited Resources young discography. drowt might not have been working in techno before, but thankfully he was pushed in that direction because he absolutely nailed the assignment.