Corvad and Ghost Dance – Breakdown

The French electronic scene has been blessed with a producer by the name of Ghost Dance. Serving as a resident of mau5trap and leaning heavily towards dark techno, he has established quite a name for himself. The Russia-based Corvad has been equally making a name for himself, releasing on such labels as Soma Records. These two powerhouses collide on their wondrous new single ‘Breakdown’. 

There’s no denying that both Ghost Dance and Corvad have grand production chops. ‘Breakdown’, even when streamed on services such as Bandcamp, sounds crisp, clear, and precise. The song itself is a heavy and fun dark techno track made to get floors thumping. Initial cinematic static is brought to an end by a bass drop and a voice echoing the title. A bassline is built and the producers thrust in an array of samples to keep the beat flowing and moving. Around the fifty-five second mark the sound quiets down again and builds right back into a bass riddled beat around the one-minute and thirty-second mark. This happens multiple times throughout the track. 

What Corvad and Ghost Dance show on ‘Breakdown’ is that they have a tremendous understanding of the genre that they’re working in. It takes more than a bassline that loops for three minutes to make a good dark techno track. It requires a bit of finesse and structure, as well as a constantly shifting beat, to maintain both a listener’s and an audience’s attention. For me, this song works wonders. Eight-and-a-half out of ten.