Kyong Sono 'HEAD' on Betonstrand

At 155 BPM, Kyong Sono's 'HEAD' is the fastest of the 25 Melodic House & Techno records in this week's charts, the charted tempos run from 120 to 155 BPM.

The record was released on Betonstrand on 15 Nov 2024, and it was charted by Nhii at eighth in Spring Charts, on 5 Feb.

This is the highest tempo in a release that is otherwise filed as Melodic House & Techno, and what lies under the BPM field is a record that gives most of its space to a deep, broad and visceral low end. It is not, as the tempo might suggest, a record of speed, but one of weight. The top stays low, the few percussion lines are metronome-crisp, and the body of the record carries a bassline so present it is almost a drone. 'HEAD' has no melodic lead in the traditional sense; it lives instead in the space between a kick drum, a sub-bass pulse and a carefully pitched vocal loop that emerges around the midway point and never fully resolves.

Fans of Kyong Sono's earlier work, including two releases on Sounds Of Khemit and Cafe De Anatolia, will find a different side here, though the label's current direction, leaning into the tougher end of organic techno, fits.