Towers Fall (Techno 1.1)

Comprised of two former members of Washington, DC’s Black Eyes (guitarist/singer Daniel Martin-McCormick and bassist Jacob Long) along with drummer Damon Palermo, San Francisco’s Mi Ami have spent the past couple of years asserting themselves as a caterwauling dub-punk force, evidenced by both their recent scorched-earth tourdates with Thank You and their full-length debut Watersports (Quarterstick/Touch and Go).

For the first volume of our new “Techno” series, Mi Ami take a lateral step away from the visceral punch of their live show toward something almost purely electronic. Using Shackleton’s now-seminal “Blood On My Hands” as a source/jumping-off point, “Towers Fall” marries the band’s slowly unfolding polyrhythmic grooves and washes of oceanic bass to a long-form synth-and-drum machines workout. “Towers Fall (Cassette Mix)” -- perhaps best seen as a dub-style ‘version’ rather than a traditional remix -- revels in beats dirtier and more acid-tinged, but still indebted to the past twenty years of the dancefloor diaspora: Chicago house, Berlin minimal, U.K. dubstep -- “techno”, however you define it.