in many ways, it s difficult to believe wehbba only dropped his first full-length ep on drumcode this year. released in february, the four-tracker eclipse was a monster statement piece of the brazilians talents and followed on superbly from fake, his contribution to last year s a-sides vol.6 inarguably one of the biggest tracks on the compilation. with the confirmation that wehbba will take part in drumcode s off week party in barcelona, followed by the brand s takeover of resistance in ibiza, its indisputable proof that his crisp, chord-driven take on techno has become a vital component to the expansive palette of sound adam beyer has drawn for the label in 2018 and beyond. catarse marks the rapid-fire follow-up from the prolific producer. opening with the eerie she lost control, wehbba says he took inspiration from the joy division track of almost the same name (she s lost control ), but instead of crafting the dense sonic atmosphere with vocals, he employs an analogue kick drum and stealth-like moog bass with dramatic results. process follows, a cut which begun as a cover jam of laurent garnier s crispy bacon and ends up incorporating the cut-up vocals of legendary minimal composer steve reich, who is one of wehbba s chief inspirators. the resulting track is an ice-cool percussive work that s rich in dancefloor functionalism. the title track will be familiar to many who follow drumcode radio, a goose-bump inducing highlight of beyers dcr392 at awakenings in eindhoven, catarse is driven by a memorable melodic riff resplendent in 90s techno euphoria. the ep concludes with the terrific mind awake, a powerful concoction of reverb heavy basslines and glitchy effects, that s been thoroughly road tested by both beyer and wehbba and kicks like a rodeo bull.
