Dachshund’s original version of Northern Steam sets up a powerful, rolling groove with obvious depth as foundation. Clear dub influences play against shifting drum fills and generous use of melody for an organic and uncommonly expressive whole; a pause in the breakdown where the pads swell, then slowly fade away, is particularly poignant. Next, Arttu comes with a druggier take on Dachshund’s ideas that jacks in old school Chicago fashion. A pitch-wavering sequence throws things off balance, and the drums gradually intensify to full-throttle beatdown as Space Invaders make 8-bit bombing runs. Lad’s long introduction of barreling kicks and slowly phased dub sequence dramatically gives way to large swaths of the original melodic line, but after this breath he returns directly to charging techno with a small section of the melody near the end to provide a moment’s respite. Veteran Frenchman Gerome Sportelli’s adroit rethinking channels Jamaican dub horns to arouse discerning listeners, and his taut tech-house drums keep the tension high for its entire eight-minute duration.