The Answer Is In The Beat

Lafidki: Absynthax tape (Orange Milk, 2012)

July 28, 2013 at 11:41 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

It took me forever to finally get around to reviewing Lafidki’s split 12″ with Orphan | Oliver after receiving a download promo of it, so the same thing is happening with his tape from last year on Orange Milk. Why do I keep telling myself I’m going to get around to reviewing everything that crosses my radar, and then it just sits on my desk and hard drive until there’s no room and I never listen to anything? But this guy’s stuff is pretty great so I should mention it. Like a lot of Orange Milk releases, this is bright, sparkly, neon, distorted, confusing, and beautiful. “Astral O” is 6 minutes of thundering drums, cascading synths, and blinding distortion. It feels like dancing in a room full of huge, glowing sculpture, and it’s boiling hot, and you’re loving every second of it. “Vong Wong” (a collaboration with Dustin Wong) is a little lighter, with more thundering drums but also trippy, delay-heavy dub guitar. “Pygopagus” starts in a mysterious music-box mode, but switches to something entirely different after a minute, with more bright synths, rippling guitar and thundering distorted drums. “Les Siamois Ne Savent Pas Sur Quel Pied Danser” has a little bit of a darker vibe, with slightly worried (but still bright and sparkly) synths, and bashy, quasi-drum’n’bass beats which sound like they’re fighting their way out of a junkyard. “From Abyss To Constellation Pisces” has more frazzled, fractaled synths and a dubby beat, and changes tempo towards the end, getting brighter and more head-nodding. Lafidki’s sound can almost seem overwhelmingly ecstatic, but in a controlled way.