By: Kerry McNeil

 

Grand Rapids-based producer and DJ SuperDre clearly spent a lot of time in the studio creating her debut EP, Follow the Fro. The EP is a perfect blend of the darkly minimalist tech house one expects from SuperDre, with catchy hip-hop flavors that make it easy to see why she was invited to support Bassnectar on his 2011 West Coast tour. Follow the Fro gives listeners the feel of Dre Wallace’s intense live shows through the comfort of thier own headphones.

 

“Get ‘Em Up,” opens with addictive percussion—the echoes of drumsticks banging against trash cans. Fellow Michigan natives, the duo Flying Without Wingz, lend a hip-hop flair to the track, with members V.Carter and iRaWniQ adding echoing vocals encouraging crowds to do as the title says. iRaWniQ’s dead serious commands within the lyric “everybody talk about it, hear about it, see about it/Dream about it, extra, extra you can read about it,” connect so well with V.Carter’s cool, quick vocals—providing just the right touch to SuperDre’s minimalist beat.

 

A static dance beat leads into a xylophone melody on “Soul Clap,” the melody contrasting well with a banging beat that picks up the pace as the track advances. SuperDre’s arrangement of the beat in tandem with the xylophone’s strains makes her broken down style lead inevitably to dancing crowds.

 

Digitally enhanced percussion, glass shattering, and glitchy noises comprise the beat of “Ghetto Circus.” The track combines the noisy beat with a dark, grinding melody that glides seamlessly into more shattering glass. The melody shifts to manipulated strings and a clap beat, but reverts to the grinding melody meshed with synths and more percussion for a fiercely powerful rhythm.

 

SuperDre blasts out another strong, static dance beat on “Down Below,” which is joined by more digital effects creating a tapping, frenzied melody. The track drops into an echoing and edgy tribal drum sound, after which the melody is thown back in to complete the energetic, driving rhythm.

 

With an even stronger tribal vibe than the rest of the release, the drums and vocals on “Piano Pimpin’” give Wallace’s minimal tech house an even more mysterious feel. The ambiance of the drum beat and vocal samples contrast nicely with the resonating piano melody, ensuring SuperDre has met the “pimpin’” requirement alluded to in the track’s title.

 

The shady, pounding beat at the beginning of “Good Ol’ Love,” doesn’t prepare the listener for the flourish of organ, along with the sensually whispered lyric, “Let me love you.” The organ permeates the track, following the beat, along with angelic harp sounds and more sensual vocals to close out a strangely exciting minimalistic EP debut.