Assassin vinyl

Sebastopol's been MIA since 2012, the year in which the electronic nomad released the sublime Hello All Stations, This Is Zero. Given the artist's mysterious behaviours, it's difficult to tell whether he (or she!) has released under any other aliases or projects. However, what we can say is that this new EP, Assassin, has just reminded us of why we dug that debut so damn much. "Assassin" itself is a little masterpiece, a tune which rides at a techno pace but that feels so much deeper and explorative than that; its warm, bubbling glow of a bassline pushes on like a pulse. Mannequin boss Alessandro Adriani reworks the original into a much more sombre, glacial kind of affair, which is absolutely effective and yet still overshadowed by the original. "Manethon" bleeps its minimal slew over a fluid drum machine beat, leaving Privacy enough space to transform it into a grungier, more broken EBM sort of belter.

Leri Ahel