Oscar Mulero - Acceptance EP (2018)

The relationship between techno and not-techno in Oscar Mulero's music goes back to his days in the mid-'90s Madrid scene. As he told RA's James Manning, he'd open nights at The Omen with the ambient music of the time-Aphex Twin, Autechre-before playing Jeff Mills and Dave Clarke at peak-time. His debut album, 2011's Green Fades To Grey, was structured to reflect this dichotomy: the "grey" part was techno, the "green" ambient. Mulero's music may have moved on since then, but this '90s idea of chill-out directs his latest pivot off the dance floor.
Sometimes you hear it in specific sounds, like the glitched-out broken beat groove of "Depth In Clarity," which calls to mind Autechre's early b-boy moves, and the balmy comedown synths in the second half of "Acceptance." Elsewhere it's more of an attitude: the use of brain-tickling downtempo syncopation with spacey sound design seems tailor-made for the reclining cyborg on the front of the Artificial Intelligence compilation. Still, this being the '10s, the cyborg wears black these days and has a tranche of gnarly tattoos.
"Exhale And Expand" aside, Mulero's experimental cuts come with a heavy funereal mood, with the titles that seal the deal. On several tracks, atonal synth parts echo through ominous crypt-like spaces. "Crux" frames them with an unsettled groove that, if pitched down a bit, could be Horo-style halftime drum & bass. "Edges Of Mortality" is firmer, and has a techno-like breakdown, in which the beat subsides to nothing before flickering back into sinister life.