Lotic is interested in disrupting the ways in which international clubs have steadily become (quite literally) white-washed through both an ignorance of dance music's queer and black history and the commercialisation of EDM. He is a member of the Berlin-based Janus collective alongside M.E.S.H. and KABLAM, each of whom has their own unique method of deconstructing club sounds in order to generate a new aesthetic that is simultaneously completely experiment, totally fun and utterly sensual. Janus' mission statement was Lotic's 2014 mix Damsel In Distress, which was a heaving, angry mix of malfunctioning electronics, androgynous sampled divas, and torn apart/re-pieced club beats. That Lotic was capable of following up such a shocking and game-changing mix with an even more bewildering and horrifying piece of broken club music in this year's Heterocetera is testimony to just how gifted he is. Heterocetera is genuinely scary in its mechanical structures and reappropriated samples, and its brief length only serves to intensify the concentrated anger and innovation that can be located in this record. The famous "Ha" dance by Masters At Work is completely reworked in the title track, morphing it from a catchy and inescapable ballroom classic (and thus referencing the key influence of both queer cultures and black cultures on all genres of contemporary dance music) into a dystopian and repetitive monster that, in a club setting, simultaneously enforces dancing and provokes genuine dread. It is comprised of layer after layer of gears, robotic sounds and aching synths, with only its never-ending beat proving any sort of respite from its aggression. Phlegm is the release's standout track, its eerie but somewhat delicate opening offering no warning as to the bass-y beats and erratic machine gun sounds that litter its latter half. It is a decent into a mechanical hell-hole that has no bottom: there is no escape from Lotic's sound. There is no way you can go and stand at the bar and have a relaxing drink while this is playing in the club. Hell, there's no way a commercial club would go near this anyway. You are confronted constantly by the sounds that he employs, and that is deliberate. Lotic demands that his listeners either dance to his provocative music or they get pissed off. He wants a reaction - club music shouldn't be easy background noise. This is the sound of the future, and this is the sound that proves that club venues can once again become places for interaction, experimentation, fun and even conflict. Don't like it? Get out of the club.
