The album format persists as dance music’s Achilles’ heel. For genres whose popularity have been predicated on 12” singles and DJ mixes, house and techno need albums as much as, say, jazz needs music videos. They’re not necessarily bad propositions, but they can seem excessive and erroneous compared to the music’s roots. Of course, this has never stopped house and techno artists from diving headlong into the album format, often as an attempt to reach mainstream audiences beyond the crate-digging, club-haunting faithful. And from the 2010s’ influx of boutique labels focused on digital and cassettes, another trend has developed: album-length releases as experimental dance music’s bog standard. No doubt, their proliferation has yielded a number of cult classics over the years, but it hasn’t solved the inherent complications of filling a format meant for personal listening with music made for DJs.
Max Ravitz inhabits this unique dichotomy. During the four years he’s released homespun, hardware-built techno as Patricia, the Brooklyn producer has made the album format his bread and butter. His sound—a textural, desaturated techno that often incorporates lush pads, errant noise, and intricate rhythms—befits full-length records more than his less experimental peers. The first two Patricia LPs, Body Issues and Bem Inventory, explored Ravitz’s gritty motif with an ear for heavy dancefloor beats. Besides the strengths of their music, those records also used brevity to great effect, each with six tracks running over 30 minutes. There was plenty of variety for DJs to select from, even as the tracklists seemed intentional enough to encourage repeat plays.
By contrast, Several Shades of the Same Color is the most ambitious Patricia release to date. Its title can be taken pretty much literally: a bunch of techno variations made with a limited palette. Each of the album’s three 12”s develop discrete pockets of mood, ranging from the dubby and emotive to the eccentric and restless. At 15 tracks spread across 91 minutes, however, Several Shades trades its predecessors’ pointedness for glut, and its range for disorder.
Ravitz’s music is at its best when the melodic and percussive complexities entwine into labyrinthine patterns. The opening third of Several Shades iterates that formula masterfully, with the ebullient “Speed Wagon Night Bride” and the drumless “The Words Are Just Sounds” among its most memorable examples. When a markedly darker tone emerges after “Deku Tree”’s modular synth interlude, the shift brings a welcome contrast. “The Electric Eye Is Upon Me” is an ominous foil to the warm bounce of “I Know the Face, But Not the Name”; “Étant Donnés” is the bewitching, Aphexian counterpart to the muddy plod of “Thoughts of You.” And with its sluggish beat and downtrodden synths, “Thoughts of You” reveals some of the limitations to Patricia’s formula—that is, not every shade of techno suits his spartan methods.
There are no explicitly bad tracks on Several Shades, but its more pedestrian and utilitarian fare can seem redundant. Deep and banging as it is, “Shiba Inu Dub” sounds rudimentary next to the low-key alien funk of “Liminal States” or a swaggering oddball like “German Friendship.” “Feel Your Body” and “You Never Listen” are as hard-nosed as they are familiar, whereas “It Gets Worse at Night” subverts its basic 303 squelch with a broken electro skitter and cacophonous atmosphere. That said, “You Never Listen” is a bona fide dancefloor bomb that could go down massively in the mix. Where private listeners may find Several Shades lacking in fresh ideas as it nears its close, DJs will be no less spoiled for choice.
Just before the album’s end, “Alternate Mindset” compresses Patricia’s strengths into a dark diamond of a tune. Ravitz wraps a straightforward acid sequence in punchy syncopation, otherworldly synth, and sumptuous bass, all building on the low-slung groove. It’s at once clever and unrefined, heady and sensual, effortless and elaborate. Such deft balances are key to Patricia’s appeal, and Several Shades shines brightest when he tempers dance music’s immediacy with sounds that linger well after they’ve rattled the speakers.
