Doctype – Mourning Foxes

By Conor Hooley
Mourning Foxes is the new full-length release from Fort Collins-based producer Doctype, bearing witness to his skills both as a producer and DJ with seven original tracks, one remix and a 20-minute mini-mix. Clocking in at just under an hour, it’s a lean, searing collection of underground bangers.
Doctype’s style is firmly rooted in dubstep, but the work on Mourning Fox conveys the Denver transplant’s diverse influences. The productions typically place ethereal melodies against crunching midtempo breakbeats and that oh-so-familiar wobbling that makes all the kids spastically contort their bodies. The result is moody and sophisticated while remaining energetic enough to have a healthy dance floor appeal.
Early highlights include the surreal chaos of “Cloud Busting” and the simplistic, efficient melodies of the title track. But the best is wisely saved for last. The curiously inviting “How My Heart Beats” could be favorably compared to Boards of Canada’s work. But the climactic “We Choose When We Suffer,” which sets a frenzied, whomping rhythm against a deliriously euphoric synth line, outdoes it. The results are jaw dropping – it’s one of the best beats any Colorado producer made in the last year, period.
The CD concludes with a brief mix intended to lend insight into what Doctype’s dance floor sounds like. It’s a fun departure from the brainier material found earlier on the disc, including a novel refitting of Coolio’s “Gangster’s Paradise.” But it’s Doctype’s work behind the boards more so than the decks that makes Mourning Foxes worth celebrating.
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