Panoptica is one Roberto Mendoza.
A native of Tijuana, the young Mexican’s music is suitably distant from the gritty techstep normally peddled by the Certificate 18 label.
This debut entirely eschews the dystopian visions which occasionally characterise what could be called experimental electronica, suggesting that, like crazed compatriots Titan, the Central American approach to music-making veers agreeably towards the unorthodox. Here, ‘Kinky Bitsuri’ and ‘Tecnica Manana’ bubble with irresistible Daft Punk-flavoured basslines. Even when the latter cut is interrupted by bursts of jagged dissonance, it remains a slice of perfect Balearic funk.
Elsewhere, ‘El Chivero De Tepatoche’ pits Mexican percussion against skittering breakbeats, producing a rhythm collision to match Missy’s ‘Get Ur Freak On’, while ‘Pluma’ offers a glimpse of how Orbital might sound if they hailed from Tijuana instead of Sevenoaks.
Often, Roberto opts for minimalism, lending his tracks an incidental weirdness through sheer repetition, but the only
blot on Panoptica’s copybook
is a descent into Café Del Mar cappuccino froth on the album’s closing tracks. Forget Ibiza for
a moment; give Tijuana a try
this summer.
Olly Thomas