Steve Lawler’s Viva: Toronto embraces a sentiment that John Digweed once expressed about minimal electronic music – That is, that good minimal techno contains as much relative importance in the audible sound as it does in the absence of sound. Despite the wise sentiment, it was hard for me to be bought immediately by Lawler’s minimal prominence. Viva: London was a decent enough disc, but hardly a frontrunner in its category. Viva: Toronto is altogether a similar concept, mastering the devilish attitude that accompanies darkened rooms, seedy nightclubs and unfamiliar faces. However similar the genre is to its predecessor, Toronto is altogether better than London (we’re talking about the discs, here!).

Disc One (“Inside”) embraces colorful, mucky and gritty minimal-tech. Like wind rushing between city buildings, the sound on this disc carries more force than it cares to show. Despite its near-phantomlike presence, I found myself bouncing around to the music as I had a listen. I argue that this type of musical incongruity sometimes makes for a better listening experience, and reminds me of the M_nus label afterhours party I attended in Detroit after D.E.M.F.’s second day. Astonishingly fresh minimal that can actually be danced to is refreshing, and now that I have come to terms with the fact that the prior king of grimy tribal has moved on to other territories, the Lawler watermark continues to cast a veritable shadow over a new genre of 4 A.M. clubbing madness. Less mad than disc two, “Inside” shows a clear progression in Lawler’s new path as a class DJ. Highlights include “Give It A Go,” “Loosey Goosey (Reboot Rework),” “Ramper (Patrick Zigon Remix)” and “Grains (TG Remix).”

The second disc, “Outside,” feels like anything in the world other than a romp around the dewy fields of electronica the title suggests. “Outside” takes minimal to places where sunlight is merely a concept, never a reality. In short, the type of place Steve Lawler has been dominating since the beginning. “Outside” unleashes a wave of exceptional new releases; echoic and murky sounds rhythmically drip and trickle into place like water from ceiling pipes in a cellar. Miss Fritz’ passive “Drifting On” segues into the stellar and demonic tone of Nivek Tsoy’s “Time and Space.” Most of Lawler’s selections are dissimilar pieces of music taken alone. For me, they combine to form a descending staircase leading to all sorts of delightfully clandestine activites: masquerades, liquor and sweat. To follow the second disc’s progression is to witness, in an entirely different realm of EDM, that which Lawler became famous for in the tribal and progressive house circuits. Other tracks worth mentioning (though all are fantastic) are “Diskotecktonik,” “Cambio,” “Symphony for the Apocalypse,” “Perception” and “The Astropop Shop.”

Viva: Toronto clearly outclasses both its “Viva” predecessors. With choice electronic cuts in all directions, I found that it was truly difficult for these discs to lose my attention. Lawler puts all the meat on one bone and emerges with a strong, energetic and intriguing compilation album. Leave it to Lawler to take minimal under his covert wing and make it appealing!

~ James Woodruff

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