Dutchman David Huismans aka A Made Up Sound aka 2562 releases his third album Fever on his own label, When In Doubt. He now resides in Berlin- and as said city; his music is a mutation of textures, colors and moods. This is a concept record; from beat to bass line and beyond, every single second of music on Fever finds its source in a vintage disco record. He originally planned to do a few simple grooves based on sampling disco records as an escape from electronic music, and before he knew it a whole album was made. It was all based on one simple rule: every single sound, from the smallest background shiver to the most obese sub bass, originates from a disco record – no additional synthesizers, drum computers or other sample sources involved. He was born in 1979, which was disco’s peak (or death), and with that as a gravitational point he moves thorough and reinterprets underground disco music from the mid-seventies to the early eighties. The press release says: “What’s the point of a concept album when no one hears the concept in it?” Through self-imposed restrictions and a specific set of guidelines he’s forced to go even deeper into the fewer possibilities left. Creativity by limitation and all that.

The disco ball drops with “Winamp Melodrama,” a busy yet stripped down Fatboy Slim-ish track, but quickly moves into a glitchy cut and paste mode. The whole track serves as an intro to “Cheater,” a Broken Beat opener that transforms to ice-cold Garage a’la Photek. The cold paranoia continues on “Aquatic Family Affair,” a superbly produced track; stomping beat, uncluttered production and a deep dark vibe. So far it seems like all the tracks have been a warm-up (if that term can be used about dark cold beats) to “This Is Hardcore,” a massive and outrageous track with a well-fitting title. It’s moody with electric piano, and it’s actually humble the way it holds back, without going all epic on your speakers. The rest of the record continues in deep Techno territory, and it all rounds up with the title track “Fever.” It’s probably the only track that comes close to Dubstep, with voice samples and sub bass, but it still has the cold industrial ambience to it, no warm churned R&B to spot.

It’s so easy to forget the concept of the record that you’ll never think of it. And that’s a good thing. It’s all clean, instrumental, cold techno. A sparse start builds and warms up to colder, bigger tracks. Along with the Egyptixx record, Fever might be the electronic underdog of the year.

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