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Daze Maxim's a name that's not cropped up too much recently. Way back when, his tracks appeared on the likes of Marco Carola's techno jewel 'Fabric 31', and (even further back,) Sven Vath's 'Sound of the Second Season' CD - arguably Vath's last effort as a hard techno protagonist. From hard to minimal to contemporary sounding techno, he's clearly a man obsessed with changing and indeed, fine tuning his musical spots.

You've probably gathered by now then, that the man also known as Marcus Manowski is back. Taking the EP in question as evidence, he's also once again dramatically altered his sound, with the 'Tomorrow Universe' EP straying down a more deep and difficult-to-pigeonhole path than Maxim's previous efforts. The title first served up. Initially constructed around a repetitive synth which sounds like one of those rubber yellow duck type things (you know the ones), it's actually not as bad as it sounds, as a warm, albeit trippy baseline soon weaves its way in and brings the track to a somewhat predictably dead end conclusion. A decent effort, but nothing to get overly excited about here.

'From Hear to There' on the other hand, is a simplistic, percussive heavy effort. Featuring a number of guitar licks, claps, shakers and crashing bell sounds, it is unfortunately, a wholly tedious and monotonous affair at best. With 2010 seemingly heralding a new era of exciting electronic music and with the dull minimal scene now thankfully on its death bed, it's somewhat disappointing to hear such unadventurous tracks still existing in this day and age.

'Heaven Raw' completes the EP via an onslaught of acid infused tones as well as hordes of clicks, bongos and drums. The poignant sounding baseline at the half way point is sure to be greeted with fervent appreciation, and just about papers over the crack that was 'From Hear to There'. By hinting at some of his obvious potential, the overall conclusion here is a disappointing one - of a man evidently capable of better.

Artist: Daze Maxim Title: Tomorrow Universe Label: hello repeat records Tracklist Tomorrow Universe From Hear To There Heaven Raw    www.hellorepeat.com www.myspace.com/dazemaxim Our Rating: 5/10