Movement is the message! On paper, ZHENGRONG sounds like the name of an underground alternative to Bernardo Bertolucci's "Last Emperor". Judging by the cover of DEXTER MENDES' three-track EP, it could also be a sweaty Korean workout routine, while googling the word will lead to ideas of a bizarre concept album.
Time to let your ears do the talking: Combining bleepy offbeat hihats and smacking kickdrums, ghoulish string pads and ghostly sub-textures, wobbling bass ripples and a relentless forward drive, this is the most straight-forward techno release on INTOXIK for some time. Listen carefully, however, and you will indeed hear amputated Asian-tinged melodies working their way through the steely nerves of rhythmic sixpacks as fanatically flexed muscles move to the merciless mantra of Mendes' concentrated code.
