The Answer Is In The Beat

Philip D Kick: As We Continue 12″ EP (Astrophonica, 2020)

August 4, 2020 at 5:44 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Somehow only the second vinyl release from Om Unit’s Philip D Kick alias, As We Continue adds a bit more oldschool techno to the project’s juke/jungle fusion. “Drips” is a choppy, wobbly treat which slightly nods to the Prodigy, and “160909313” combines a whole bunch of my favorite things in one track, ramping Detroit techno up to juke tempo without resembling ghettotech. “Funk 160” does much the same thing to smooth, mid-’90s drum’n’bass, like Adam F or Wax Doctor, but with some unexpected frizziness thrown in as the track winds on. “Summer Moods” sounds like a junglistic version of DJ Rashad at his most uplifting, and would be an easy winner at any parties we would normally be enjoying this season. After the more yearning “The Riviera”, “Clouds” seems to stare up at the vast, blue sky and summon an uncountable number of unspoken questions, with little more than an electro-ish beat, drifting pads, and minimal melodies.

River Spirit: Constant Lullaby (self-released, 2020)

August 3, 2020 at 6:27 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Detroit trio River Spirit follow up last year’s excellent Me I Fall full-length with the shorter, more intimate Constant Lullaby. While 2018’s EP 2 flirted with trip-hop and electro-pop, and Me I Fall had some of the group’s jazziest, most sophisticated material, this one feels a bit more direct, even with a few brief, abstract interludes. “Constant Lullaby” has scratchy alt-rock guitars which drive the lonesome refrain “and it ain’t no party without you”. After the moody instrumental “Deeper Fantasy”, which features dark shades of bells behind its tricky guitar and drum rhythm, “Let It All Go” is a more easygoing but still slightly anxious ode to a promised rendezvous. The dreamy sway of “Don’t Look Back” segues into “Agency”, which has a similar mood but more tightly wound vocals, and “Crooked Wonder” has more of a contrast between moments which flow with release and choppier, more aggressive elements. Tapes have yet to ship out, but this fine release is available to stream now.

v/a: Fugitive Pieces (Seagrave, 2020)

August 1, 2020 at 12:44 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Seagrave has a pretty astonishing catalog of breaks, algorave, IDM, grime, lo-fi, post-punk weirdness, and much more. This new 10-track comp doesn’t appear to have any particular theme, it’s just creative material from across the label’s roster and beyond. Etch starts things off splendidly with some steady but choppy jungle breaks and bumping bass. Brain Rays & Quiet (easily the label’s duo to watch right now) have some fun making a sort of atmospheric ghettotech track out of a CupcakKe sample. Viennese legend Stereotyp goes hard with a tough ragga-grime riddim, and newcomer Drumskull (review of his new album forthcoming) references oldskool breakbeat hardcore tropes but does something entirely different with them; it’s punchier, more angular, ruffer. Ice_Eyes’ remarkable “Silk01d” is a jagged, prismatic futurescape which seems like it’s crushing itself, yet it’s still sort of funky and almost melodic. Maybe those aren’t really the best ways to describe it, but it does the mutilated Autechre glitch thing while still sounding like it’s a breathing creature. Under-recognized glitch-breaks veteran ScanOne comes correct with the tense but jumpy “Breeze”. The mysterious Sentry resurrects an offbeat, kind of antsy techno gem from an obscure 12″ released by a Slovakian label 4 years ago. The rest of the tracks drift away from breaks and club sounds to more abstract lo-fi textures. Warp alumni REQ surrounds samples about robot superheroes (“We need more power! We must bring safety to the universe!”) with clanky, fizzing beats and bubbles, and Ekoplekz works his usual radiophonic industrial dub magic. The comp ends with brooding selection from SDEM, whose recent double cassette on the label follows releases on Opal Tapes and CPU last year.