One Step Beyond

RAITO’s releases for BNR have always been rave revival floor-fillers, heavily drenched in 90’s oldskool breakbeat hardcore, tribal, and darkstep influences. “One Step Beyond” shows Raito’s increasingly unmatched ability to craft bangers that are both festival-ready and so obsessively rooted in rave canon that even the chin-strokers can’t deny their appeal. The title track brings huge euphoria, with pianos, amens, a reese bassline, diva vocals, rewinds, and an MC bigging up what seems to be the biggest party in the world called “One Step Beyond.” It’s immersive in a way that moves outside the walls of the track, with the samples providing atmosphere that transports you to another time and place. “Island Tribe” revisits a format explored on Raito’s last EP “Tribal Cave,” a conga filled slow-builder that will nearly drive you mad, with the final 30 seconds providing an electrified relief. “Drop That” could fit in a deep house set- although the thumping kick and high tempo betrays it’s own “deepness” for something a bit harder, not to mention you could cut shapes all night to the sticky bassline. “No More” has Raito closing the release with a more menacing, tension and release structured, breakbeat-jittered house track, leaving the listener feeling like the EP was the last 4 tracks of the night at the biggest party in the world. Lest we’ve forgotten the announcer from the title track already, that party is called “One Step Beyond.”