Hotfire harkens back to the formative years of his house project with his new ‘Think Back’ EP on Insomniac‘s IN / ROTATION. San Diego-based producer Sascha Nowlin, aka Hotfire, has a knack for blazing through basslines likes it’s no one’s business. He recently stomped his way onto the IN / ROTATION catalog with a collab alongside Fantom Freq, ‘Stampede’, whose untamed groove went running wild on the third installment of the label’s ongoing ‘Rotate’ compilation. With the dust officially settling from his label debut, Hotfire is ready to dish out the heat once more via his standalone effort, ‘Think Back’. The three-track EP shows him taking cues from the earlier influences—ranging from the impossibly wonky and wobbly to the more raw and rubbery—which sees him paying tribute to his late production partner Eric Yandall, who was tragically taken from us too early last year.
“The ‘Think Back’ EP came to be from a culmination of memories I hold onto making music with my best friend Eric,” says Hotfire. “I tried to think back to the times we spent in the garage making tracks that we could groove to with no real goal, just having fun. Each track on the EP has a bit of a different style, pulling influence from types of tracks we’ve always enjoyed. From the harder bass sounds of ‘Burning The Ground’ to the wiggly wobble style of ‘Think Back’, and the repetitive vocal chop grooves that ‘Voodoo’ provides in between, there’s a little something for everyone in here.”
Opening up with the title cut, the three-track affair gets the ball rolling with a more restrained number at first with “Think Back” setting off through airy synth slides slipping beneath a smooth vocal loop urging listeners to “take a second and think back.” Metallic clanks and an elastic groove carry most of the weight here, as wobbly flourishes add a subtle flair to the lowkey shuffle. “Burn The Ground” comes in blazing with a beefier framework, as scampering keys move swiftly atop a gritty rhythm that eventually gives way to scratchy synth arrangements, squidgy basslines, and jiggly elements used to fan the flames throughout. Closing out the affair is none other than “Voodoo,” an industrial-laced cut bolstered by its invigorating percussive arrangements. Choppy vocal samples tumble meticulously atop skidding chord shifts and swinging drums. Once the main groove is fully realized, machine-like whirs growl gently while billowing hand percussion and bouncy bottom-end work in tandem to create a spell-like rhythm. All three cuts crafted by Hotfire have their own unique identity while staying very much grounded on the sounds that shaped the project way back when.
Stream all your favorite tech house tracks in the playlist below – follow here.
