The Plexus release recovers eight previously unreleased tracks from Steve Young’s Warmer Squares and E-Funk periods, holding together as a document rather than a clearing-out.
Steve Young’s Scarper project returns to his own Plexus imprint with Off-Cuts (2014–2021), a collection of eight previously unreleased tracks drawn from the Warmer Squares and E-Funk periods. Rather than an assortment of leftovers, the release functions as a selective document of a seven-year stretch, giving archival material a second context.
The tracks move between ambient techno, electro, acid, glitch and drum’n’bass without losing a common thread. “Synet (Dial-Upp ’00 Mix)” opens in a haze of modem-era texture, while “Rinse & Repeat (Head & Shoulders Mix)” pushes toward ambient techno and “Nightshift (Acid Tuesday Mix)” sharpens the pulse for the floor. The slower pieces reveal more of Young’s range: “Outlier (You’re My Skweeero Mix)” works through fractured, congested downtempo breaks, and “Polarity (Curse These Metal Hands Mix)” drives full-throttle acidic techno over shifting substructures.
Later tracks lean into electro and drum’n’bass. “Ponderosa (Grilled T-Bone Mix)” carries a more elevated melodic register, while “Steppe (Runty-Bunting Mix)” lands as a crunchy, ragged collision. Closing with “Halocline (Deep Water Mix),” the record returns to finely shaped micro-melodies and a drifting, nostalgic quiet.
Off-Cuts (2014–2021) is available on Plexus via Bandcamp.
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ROMBO Editorial Staff
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