A Canadian producer now living in Berlin, where techno lays legitimate claim to glam-rock-worthy grandeur, Jake Fairley plays at being a star on Touch Not The Cat. Underlying it all is the "schaffel" beat, a midtempo shuffle that stomps and sulks like T. Rex and Gary Glitter—imagine old glam anthems like "Jeepster" given a gritty, glistening techno rub. Schaffel has caused a stir among dance fans enamored with its cool infusion of attitude, but it's also caught the ear of holdouts lured by its laid-back pace, which cuts dance music's four-four whoomp into chunky blocks.
Touch Not The Cat starts with a straightforward schaffel beat in "Nightstick," a moody stormer that lays Fairley's own vocals in a tangle of singed synths and strutting drums. Fairley's voice sounds slight and a little nervous, but he can't help but come off as cocksure in a setting that evokes both a dance club and a rocked arena. "Mosquito" pushes the vocals further forward—in a would-be Kafka song about a boy turning into a bug—but the beat reasserts itself with raw synth riffs and techno tingle.
Like fêted electronic crossover Matthew Dear, Fairley likes noise and gristle, and he cinches techno's ties to goth and industrial music in murky bangers like "Radiator" and "Top Hat." The bulk of Touch Not The Cat cycles through big, cruising beats, but it also sprays out spectral tones that seem more interested in a staredown than a blurred view. It's furrow-browed futurism with a little makeup on.