Fjaak tease their long-awaited debut album with a both varied and coherent single. “Wolves” and “Pray For Berlin” already hint at what is to be expected of the Berlin-based trio’s Monkeytown LP: hard, uncompromising dance foor material on the one side meets sinister break beat magic on the other one. The “Wolves” unleashed by Fjaak aim straight for the throat. Over a gritty and hypnotic groove, psychotic organ sounds cut through the mix like suppressed memories. There’s a break, but no time to breathe, really: the warm bassline emerging from the intense near-silence only comes with more appetite for destruction. A track which belongs in the peak-time sets of every basement rave, or as Fjaak would say: You’ll hear it downstairs (“Unten”). A nervous murmur flls the room, violent sub bass attacks hint at the worst to come and modulated hi-hats hiss demonically. The sonic centre of “Pray For Berlin” however is occupied by a sophisticated breakbeat, fanked by dreamy synth lines, which lends an irresistible drive to the track, despite its midtempo pace. Fjaak effortlessly translate the A-side’s icy mood into a complex breakbeat. It’s one for the heads, and at the same time a fully-developed artistic statement
