St. Helens

Beat Tape 1

Rivers of Recordings

Vancouver’s Rob Warren and Tomas Jirku comprise St. Helens. They are also members of Rivers Of, a music and design collective established by Jirku, a Toronto expatriate best known for his clicks and cuts and minimal techno on labels like No Type, Alien 8, and Force Inc. Beat Tape #1 is a continuous, multi-genre, mega-mix of beats and breaks that’s formatted like an old-skool cassette, with each of its two tracks lasting over 15 minutes. Indeed, this postmodern aesthetic extends to the cover art, which is a hybrid of computer design and hands-on printing.

On initial listen, the two tracks—“Voodude” and “Soupmask”—come off as nothing more than glorified mash-ups, as Warren and Jirku play their closely edited beat toggles and juggles against each other. A closer listen, however, reveals a seamless symmetry and cohesion to these rhythmic truncations and clips that mirror the mood outlined in the tracks’ respective titles. So that the dreader-than-dread “Voodude” is, at least early on, full of ominous synths, textured percussion, and industrial effects. These give way to brooding Rhythm-&-Sound-like tech-dub, then Arthur Russell-ish mutant disco, accented by military drum rolls, and then to clunky ’80s breakbeats, complete with panning synth drum rolls. At this point, the crawling heaviness is alleviated when the tempo picks up thanks to some slamming Depeche Mode big beats, followed by funky electro and nu-jazz grooves, and closing off with some chunky house. Yet underlying even this later, livelier section is a sense of anxiety and fear.

This sense of disquiet and apprehension continues on “Soupmask,” which kicks off with soupy ’70s jazz-funk that merges first with vintage house and then with some Tresor techno that mutates into classic Autechre beat mastery. Just as on “Voodude,” the tempo picks up halfway through, this time courtesy of some Underground-Resistance-like electro house, which is followed by some glorious, polyrhythmic minimal house that abuts with lumbering dub-hop, only to close out with some spritely, ambient house.

Like the best DJ mixes before it, Coldcut’s legendary Journeys by DJ to name one, the brilliance of Beat Tape#1 stems not only from its impeccable sense of flow and stylish transitions between diverse genres, but also its instinctive timing for rhythmic contrast and surprise. And to think, all this happens in just over 33 minutes. Bring on Beat Tape #2.

Richard Moule