Tempest

Tussle -- in various forms -- has been making music in San Francisco's Mission District for over a decade, and they've explored quite a range of what is loosely branded "electronic" musics. The current line-up features live instrumentation (real bass and drums) alongside synths and samplers in creating percussion-rooted music that uniquely integrates organic and electronic elements. For their fourth full-length release, Tussle strip things down a bit, and embrace the wide open feel of dub and space music with tones that twitch, pulse, reverberate and shimmer. That's not to say Tempest isn't dance floor material -- it is, but it's a more relaxed path leading there:  with dubby snares and glitchy keyboards, seductive rhythms and warm, earthy percussion, tracks like "Moondog" and "Yellow Lighter" take a few minutes to really move to the center of their grooves, but when they do, it's like honey on a stick. Aggressive numbers like "Cat Pirate" and "Eye Contact" -- with treats like cow bell and hard-hitting handclaps -- are more like honey in a pot: getting in is easy, but getting out is another story.