Porter Ricks make return on Tresor with their first album in over 20 years

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Artist: Porter Ricks
Title: Anguilla Electrica
Label: Tresor
Cat No: TRESOR295
Released: Out Now!
Genre: Dub Techno

Porter Ricks are back on Tresor with their first album in over 20 years. When Andy Mellwig and Thomas Köner (aka Porter Ricks) dropped the ‘Shadow Boat’ EP last year, their first ep in 20 years, a wave of excitement charged through the electronic music community. Mainly because it didn’t suck! It was deep, with rich textures and soundscapes, and most importantly it sounded modern, not just a rehash of a 96’ hit. It shined a light back on dub that has recently been more focused on harder techno, electro, and even deep house.

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At only 6 tracks it feels a little rude to be calling this a “Long Player”, but at over 40 minutes I figure it’s still longer than The Strokes “Is This It?”, so I’ll pay it some attention!

The title track, ‘Anguilla Electrica’ leads the way sounding more like a cross between Fixmer and Drvg Cvltvre, with deep growling acid and a morphed ravey synth menacing you from the first drop and rolling along maintaining a dark funk for the entire 7 minutes of the track.

‘Shoat Beat’ starts like a straight enough acid house track, with a clean kick and warped acid line, but within a minute the kick has been consumed by the Ricks trademark white-noise-wash and reemerges cloaked in dub, with that acid line dancing its syncopated dance around it. Although interestingly it feels like the track, and the album with it, it loses a little momentum.

The next track, ‘Prismatic Error’, albeit an interesting exercise in ambient structures, textures, and soundscapes, doesn’t quite connect with me! ‘Scuba Rondo’ is a brilliant deep, dubby techno tune. However, it doesn’t need to be 8 and a half minutes long! I understand that Köner and Mellwig have always stood out among their peers for their proficiency and intricacy of their sound design, but it feels sometimes like maybe they’re trying too hard to prove themselves, maybe? ‘Port Of Tangency’ is the one track that sounds and feels the most like the Porter Ricks of old, plus I can’t help but feel having ‘Port’ in the title is a nautical nod, maybe?

‘Sandy Ground’ rounds off what is all in all a triumphant return to the fray for Porter Ricks. Hopefully, we won’t have to wait 20 years for the next installment.


About the Author

Growing up in Melbourne Matt’s introduction to electronic music happened during the legendary rave scene erupting in the warehouses of Melbourne’s industrial West. Matt grew up on all the classics, Carl Cox’s 'F.A.C.T', Laurent Garnier’s ‘Laboratoire’ mix, and of course all the Reactivates and early K7 mixes. During the winter of 1995, Derrick May & Stacey Pullen introduced Matt to Detroit techno, and that was that. Soon after Jeff Mills released ‘Live at The Liquid Room’ and Matt already all consuming interest in deejaying and techno exploded. Fast forward 20 plus years and Matt is still obsessed with electronic music, records and deejaying. Now a resident for the flagship Australian techno label, Nightime Drama, Matt has played alongside some of the biggest names in techno including Jeff Mills, Luke Slater, Derrick May, DJ Bone, Dasha Rush, Kangding Ray, and many more.