There’s a fly in João Ricardo’s ointment.
The ointment is a dense, flowing expanse of minimal techno. It is all churning, elegantly desiccated haze. There are whorls within whorls, and a thudding backbeat that is as cloudy as it is fierce.
The fly is a little bit of noise, like a bad seam in a looped sample, or the click of a turntable where the needle is stuck at the record’s end, or a bit of static on the phone that makes you think someone is listening in. It’s a tiny little irritant that turns the haze — the track is titled “Fugue” — into something more foreboding, more anxiety-provoking, more compelling.
Track, from his album *Soon* off the Arctic Dub label, originally posted at [soundcloud.com/ocp](https://soundcloud.com/ocp/fugue). Ricardo goes by ocp, an acronym that expands to “operador de cabine polivalente.” More from him at [joaoricardo.org](http://joaoricardo.org/). Get the full album at [davewesley.bandcamp.com](https://davewesley.bandcamp.com/album/ocp-soon). Both Arctic Dub and ocp are based in Porto, Portugal.