You may already know Barem (aka Mauricio Barembuem) from his releases on (un)Foundsound, Pariter and Phonocult or from his remixes on Resopal, Mo's Ferry and Einmaleins. If so you, won't be surprised in the slightest to find him surfacing on Minus with Never Better Than Late to round off what has been another groundbreaking year for this ubiquitous label. Barem's sound fits the bill perfectly. Familiar yet with its own distinctive signature, the phat, marauding bass/kick combo on Censored Elephant is already stampeding its way across dancefloors as we speak. A few seconds later and one of Barem's trademark pitch shifting percussion sequences waxes irresistibly, introducing another take on the dark, subliminal vocal style that has been such a significant Minus motif over the last 12 months (this time with echoes of `Yello' ), fully exploiting the crawl space between the beats. Then They.... is a tough drum groove punctuated with a flurry of raw percussion fills and snare hits while the warped, tubular bell efx add a softer, melodic aspect to the earthy groove. The toms double up urgently as the track suddenly disappears into a cavernous void, returning with another snippet of twisted vocals. Nervy and deep, it's a track 'to lose your friends to' down the club. Ponymal Morning completes the vinyl part of the release in splendid fashion, offering up a kaleidoscopic journey of delicate melodies, enveloping reverbs and a slow, melting synth line that will momentarily have you floating in space. The electro flavoured broken beats of So Serial (digital only) make it the perfect tool for opening a set or for shifting the mood. The melancholy tones, the massive snare reverbs and the low, stuttering acid bassline gradually turn up the pressure before eventually triggering the 4/4 section, establishing the perfect platform to propel the evening onto the next level. The fantastically titled Ears concludes the release,offering more subsonic trickery in a similar vein. The percussive licks shift up and down amid a wash of reverbs and delays, while the bubbling bassline motors forward, keeping the scuttling efx in check.