Four beats per minute is all that separates the fastest cut on 'Canarias VA' from the slowest: between the 132 BPM of 'Resonance', the opener signed jointly by Samu Ramirez and Criss Rov, and the 128 of Ricardo Espino's 'No Time To Talk' there is barely any room. Which is exactly why the real contrasts of this compilation live elsewhere: in the running times, in the keys, and in the border between minimal and tech house that the record keeps crossing.
'Flip That' versus 'Come Close'
The most telling extreme is length. Cabanillas' 'Flip That' stretches to 6:27 and is also the only piece of the seven in a major key: a D major that breaks the chain of minor tonalities and gives the middle stretch an almost luminous breather. At the opposite end, 'Come Close' closes the record at 4:41, the shortest cut, signed by Malgado. Not just any name: according to Labelsbase, he founded Distortion himself, a label based in the Canary Islands, active since 2018 and managed by FedeAliprandi. The boss keeping the shortest, most direct closer for himself says plenty about the house character.
Other tensions hold the set together:
- Three minimal / deep tech cuts against four tech house ones: the record's most restrained side collides with its most physical, and the sequence alternates between them without warning.
- Two collaborations —'Resonance' at the start and 'Bandida', by Edu Campos with Ayoze— against five solo pieces; 'Bandida' and 'Come Close' also share E minor, a tonal echo between the duo and the founder.
The title is no decoration: the imprint operates from the archipelago and this VA reads as a scene statement, a run of names worth discovering that coexist within an extremely narrow tempo band, forced to stand apart through texture rather than speed. That, in the end, is the contrast that best defines the record: rhythmic uniformity on the outside, clashing personalities within.
Sources: Labelsbase
