Critiques CD: Secret Cinema | Minerals

Whether you know the guy as Secret Cinema, Meng Syndicate or Grooveyard, Dutch producer Jeroen Verheij has been an electronic music fixture for some 20-odd years. This new double disc finds him dabbling in both throbbing techno and slow-burning ambience – though not the kind you’d exactly describe as ‘soothing.’ First, the dancefloor fodder: CD 1 provides a solid tech-house assault where moody basslines meet relentless percussive hits, with piercing melodies underscoring the magic. Verheij takes a stroll through zen gardens on CD 2, a collaboration with Mental Youth that features a pretty unsettling roster of ambient tracks that could have easily scored Memento or Donnie Darko.