Rino: Flow-On | 4ZZZ Brisbane 102.1FM

- Naarm/Melbourne-based, Indonesian producer Rino Darusman (that’s Ree-no, if you were wondering), has been hard at work over the last couple of, highly locked down years. Only debuting his first track back in 2020, what began as essentially chillout music or, as he put it, “dance floor with close friends, sunny day headphones music”, has become steadily bolder, more beat focused and complex. Now releasing his second EP, Flow-On, it really does seem like a natural progression and the blooming of a pretty interesting talent in the Australian beats scene.

There’s a serene vibe that backgrounds all of Rino’s work, a warm and happy ambience that is, in an uncynical, almost naive way, asking you to experience quite a disarming level of happiness. I don’t know if it’s deliberate or not, but there’s a brief vocal sample in the title track to the new record which sounds very much like a tribute to the Orbital classic, Halcyon & On & On and well, you can tell from the title, both artists are tapping into the same cosmic river of euphoria.

The eclectic choices in orchestration, like the chimes that ping all over the same number, should have people reaching for Gold Panda comparisons, but this is much more beat focussed and in the same left-field vein as dance artists like Four Tet, Caribou or Bonobo. Pretty auspicious company to be honest, but it’s not all that Rino is doing here. This first cut is of a piece with his previous EP, Expanse, in its breaks focus, but much of the rest of Flow-On is a bit different.

Say hello to Slinky, which introduces itself with -still quite chill- but wild syncopation. Suddenly we’re in the world of ambient drum’n’bass and stylishly toeing the border with jungle. Rino is still using all his favourite genres, if you prick up an ear for those deep-house vocal highlights, nearly lost in the background reverb. This cut really adds an intellectual appeal to the ketamine-kick of the chill where this all started out.

Means just about splits the difference between the first two tracks, with a driving breakbeat, but with a hint of syncopation flitting around in there as well. It builds to a bigger climax than anything we’ve heard before and, it feels odd to say this about a producer with so much chill in his veins, but at its height, this one reminds me of the maximalism of Dan Deacon.

Gloss brings a big finish, in a funny kind of way. A sedately paced jungle beat, almost downbeat, is toyed with, Rino adding layers of at least equal complexity on top, until halfway through, when he does an almost total reset into a thunderous breaks dash for the finish, with the barest taste of drum’n’bass, nearly lost in the river of sound; Dan Deacon eat your heart out. I’m left remembering just how much Rino likes bells and chimes - well he puts them to pretty good use.

You’d have to be pretty mean-spirited not to enjoy this, to be left without a smile on your face at the end. Do dance producers want their work to be described as lovely? This is lovely. Please continue to Flow-On Rino, I am very happy to go where your sound takes me.

- Chris Cobcroft.