PITCHFORK | Jun 19,2018 | EN
The word “dank” gets thrown around a lot in the club world, usually to play up the music’s psychotropic qualities. But Helena Hauff’s shadowy take on techno is dank in a different way: It’s cold and clammy, evocative not so much of marijuana as moldy basements. That’s definitely the case with “Qualm” and “No Qualms,” a pair of cuts from the Hamburg, Germany producer’s upcoming album, Qualm.
The pair of tracks, sequenced back-to-back on the album, make for a potent one-two punch. On “Qualm,” a rare foray into beatless fare, she lays off the drum machine and sinks deeply into a hazy synthesizer meditation that leaves the bitter scent of burnt wiring lingering in the air. The title has a double meaning: In English, it means a feeling of unease or nausea, while in German, it’s a word for “smoke” or “fumes,” and her wispy waveforms live up to both connotations. With “No Qualms,” though, she unmutes the drums and unleashes one of her characteristically punishing drum grooves—a snapping, swaggering electro cadence run through gritty overdrive, handclaps and woodblocks so heavy they leave welts. The synth melody remains the same, but the transformation is unmistakable: from sickly drift to full-on dungeon techno.