First announced on a Juno review back in 2016, a mysterious and new name « Fetnat » was making it’s appearance. As they wrote, Clad Ep, following his debut one « Swahili » out on Nous Disques, would be coming soon. It wasn’t too soon in fact. We were regretful not to be able to do what we expected with these tracks, for a number of reasons. Although, the tracks never left our « upcoming » folder nor our playlist, be it in the car, the earphones or the studio. We are often saying that this or that release is a very special one in our catalogue; Rightfully, we believe. But It is probably a weird and daring undertaking to come with an Ep, that was 100% fitting into a specific « lo-fi » trend once that actual trend has firmly slowed down, and of course that has been on our minds when thinking of putting it out. Yet, what was also on our mind was the fact that among hundreds of things released at that time, these Fetnat tracks were, and are still thousands feet above the scrum. Therefore, they could not be reduced to basic fashionable items or be out of vogue now. Of course, the french producer was probably looking for an extreme in terms of grain, distortion and sound in the truest sense of the word. And of course, some labels like L.I.E.S have made their reputation solely on the defense and promotion of that specific sound, but could it mean only this specific sound underlies the greatness of these tracks? Probably not. What’s making the interest and the urge to get back to these tracks right after playing them has more to do with an extraordinary attention to each individual part and element of them. It has to do with a perfect positioning of each sound, one by one, being processed at their roots, taking care of their role in the track, of their frequency range, of their importance, and surely not with a global processing where all goes in the same rack, printing the artist’s (or the rack’s) signature onto an album, as it has been done too often, causing the progressive decline of that trend. But of course, the identity, in the most noble sense of the term, that an artist gives to his tracks, has never had and will never have anything to do with a trend. It is the most significant and righteous thing for an artist to care about and so it is for the listener. It is blatant in each of these 4 tracks that Marc Bianco was at the apogee of a personal and longstanding research when he made these tracks, and it is clear that what he came up with at that time was working both with flaming jazzy deep-house and raw galloping techno. Rarely, very very rarely (whether it was characterized as « lo-fi » or not), we heard such a mastery in making a track sound harsh, nervous, almost agressive in a way, while at the same time remaining lovely in the ears, pleasant at all points along the play, and definitely not too agressive for the nerves. It is pure tension, it requires all the listener’s attention but it is also rewarding as all these drums and notes feel more shiny and alive than any acoustic drumkit or piano our there. This contrast is striking. Clad is the jazzy one we mean of course, and Echonomi, Don’t Touch, Herse Rhythm are the more techno ones, but who cares, these tracks go way beyond classification as they are the living proof that house is techno, and techno is house in more than one way. That being said, we are really happy to finally drop this ep and these tracks that already played an important role in the label’s life. Late, that is true! Digital only for now, that is sad! But there’s hope we could do more with them in the future. And well, as we’re celebrating the 10 years of the label in 2022, it felt like the ideal time to release them from the hard drive jail where they had been sleeping for too long. By the way, Fetnat goes for « Fête Nationale »: National holiday in french. And the reason why the cover artwork that illustrates it shows a blending of minerals is probably a weird and daring undertaking too, but maybe it is the label’s fate so we accept it.