Cute Heels ‎– Third Skin

Since 2009, year-by-year Dark Entries have been gaining momentum and have built a solid reputation as an outlet that is filling gaps in dance music history. Revisiting the great, the weird and the strange, the label ranges from that which may have been forgotten to that which may be high in demand. Amongst these fine lessons in music history the label also finds time to deliver more modern and contemporary cuts releasing names like Bezier and Frak to name a couple. Behind this instalment is Barcelona-based Colombian Victor Lenis, AKA Cute Heels, who last appeared on the imprint in 2014. Since then Victor has become well known for his Italo techno fusion and built this reputation with releases on labels such as Schrödinger's Box. 

In the two tracks from the Colombian there is little messing around from the first beat, both tracks possess a spooky sinister tone reverent of 80’s new wave influences. The cuts share similar solid 4/4 drum work rich in reverb and fused with distortion. The title track has playful, acid arpeggiated synth lines merging and captivating with depth and drive. As the track progresses the percussion work floods in with snaps, crackles, pops and huge gated reverbs. ‘Lipstick Information’ shares a similar playful aquatic synth work in the low end, however, shows brighter tones with more melodic high frequency synth lines. 

BUY VINYL: http://www.darkentriesrecords.com/store/vinyl/cute-heels-third-skin-ep/ Cute Heels is the solo project of Victor Lenis, a contemporary artist living in Barcelona, Spain. He grew up in Bogotá, Columbia during the 1990s, surrounded by the radial punk scene. Over the years, Victor's passion and fascination for synthesizers and drum machines to produce and compose resulted in various digital-only releases as well as his debut album “Spiritual" for Dark Entries in 2014. Cute Heels has been called ''the new blood and spirit for the next step in techno music'' by Electro/Techno pioneer Juan Atkins. “Third Skin” is a 4-track EP that connects the dots between Detroit techno, early Chicago house and Belgium electronic body music. Inspired by equal parts Liaisons Dangereuses, Drexciya and Black Devil Disco Club. On the A-side are two fresh compositions recorded in 2015. “Third Skin” kicks things in a metallic EBM funk with a pounding bottom end. “Lipstick Information” takes the listener on a dark, psychedelic and twisted journey through thrillingly intense arpeggiations. On the flip we present two remixes. The first is from Steffi, House and Techno DJ and producer born in The Netherlands and residing in Berlin. She picks up the pace for an uplifting, percussion-driven, DAF-eque dystopian stomper. The second remix comes from Michel Amato aka The Hacker, French born DJ and producer and frequent collaborator with Miss Kittin. His early musical influences of bands such as Cabaret Voltaire, Throbbing Gristle and Front 242 shine through on this pumping and sophisticated remix ready for any dance floor. All songs have been mastered for vinyl by George Horn at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley. The record comes in a custom-made jacket designed by Eloise Leigh featuring a photograph by Corinne Schiavone printed with hi-gloss finish. Each copy includes a postcard with with notes and image for fetish lovers.

Contributing to the two remixes of the title track are ‘The Hacker’ and an interesting choice in ‘Steffi’. Steffi brings to the table what we have come to expect from her; dark Berlin tones, driving groove and banging drums. The Hacker however, puts together a very stripped approach in comparison to the other cuts with a down tempo version that still packs a whopping punch.