The Answer Is In The Beat

Leaf Erikson: A Canvas Of Hope (self-released, 2019)

May 18, 2019 at 1:35 pm | Posted in Reviews | 1 Comment

Leaf Erikson represents Detroit to the fullest on his excellent new album. Produced entirely by Meftah (whose sister Tanya used to be a DJ at WCBN several years ago), the beats are abstract and jazzy, filled with vinyl crackle and lo-fi grittiness, but they avoid sounding like a direct copy of any other well-known producer. The lyrics are what really make the album shine, however, celebrating Detroit in spite of all of its problems. “D.R.E.A.M.” flips Wu-Tang’s anthem, declaring that “Detroit Rules Everything Around Me”, while “Foreclosure” talks about how various suburbs of Detroit (and even Detroit’s midtown) are becoming the hippest places in the area, while the hood is still being ignored. “H2O” also touches on gentrification as well as the continuing Flint water crisis. Still, there’s an extraordinary amount of hope and humility throughout, particularly on tracks like “Rescue Mission” and “Gospel from the North End”. Strongly recommended.

Forest Management: Passageways LP (Whited Sepulchre, 2019)

May 5, 2019 at 1:53 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

This is already in the running as one of my favorite ambient albums of the year. Its five tracks range from horizontal drones to patches of haunted ballroom music. “Various Sources of Light” rolls on for 15 minutes, gradually becoming brighter and clearer, while “Blue Leaves” (probably my favorite) is deeper and more obscured, seemingly hiding an intense spirit under the festering distortion. This album can be relaxing if you just leave it on in the background, but it seems like there’s something more sinister going on underneath.

Curved Light: Flow and Return tape (Constellation Tatsu, 2019) + Airs of Modality tape (Unifactor Tapes, 2019)

May 4, 2019 at 7:14 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

We didn’t hear much from Curved Light last year, but the ambient artist has returned with two tapes so far in 2019. Flow and Return mainly consists of short pieces flowing in and out of each other, producing a sequence of light flickers, audio pinwheels, and the occasional haunting moment. “Flow and Return” sustains its mood for a much longer period, extending to 7 minutes of a glitchy loop and wave-like textures, bringing to mind Justin Walter’s solo work.


Airs of Modality starts out sounding like music for a haunted temple. The track titles themselves point out a sort of mystic journey that could potentially be the plot of an RPG, and it gets a bit more action-filled during the more frantic “The Search” and the unexpectedly beat-driven “Hidden Ritual, Pt. 2/Revelation”. “The Invocation/Final Encounter” surrounds chanting monks with disorienting, trippy synth swarms and an accelerating bass throb which then rockets up galaxy-ward. There’s a lot of paths this album goes down, making it one of Curved Light’s most unpredictable and exciting releases.

Todd Modes: New Life LP (100 Limousines, 2019)

April 26, 2019 at 7:36 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Detroit’s Todd Modes, whose previous releases include an EP on Fit Sound and a track on a Detroit Electronic Quarterly compilation, inaugurates a new label called 100 Limousines with this short album of laid-back, reflective tracks. Starting with a loungey intro, “Waves In Love” is where the deep house beats kick in, backed by drifting guitars and dubby traces of vocals. “Time Frame” is on more of a dusty downtempo tip, with carefully folded vocals and sax loops, and it seems to fade away before it really starts to take off. “The Archer” similarly establishes a deeply zoned-out downtempo groove, and before you know it, it’s over. The half-melted “That’s Right” is the album’s trippiest and most addictive cut, and of course it’s only two and half minutes. “Finding Balance” pairs forceful but carefully beting drums with expansive, droning synths and a very sparse bassline and Brazilian-sounding vocals. “Breathing New Life” feels like an unraveled deep house track, with very loose, vamping kick drums and hi-hats that seem like they’re going to a kick into a steady beat but don’t, yet it sounds fine anyway because the pads are so soothing. “Continue In Peace” is a candid but bittersweet reflection focusing around a sample of an old timer talking about how kind and gentle his grandson was as a youth, saying “I keep talking in past turns because that’s how he used to be”.

Thee Reps: Minimal Surface (Gold Bolus, 2019)

April 26, 2019 at 6:50 pm | Posted in Reviews | Leave a comment

Thee Reps play a form of minimalist instrumental rock which seems deceptively simply at first, but once all the layers add up, you’re not quite sure the group managed to fit all the parts together. Some of the parts are jaunty and friendly — the keyboards almost sound like they could’ve been played by a kid — but the parts are arranged into patterns that sometimes aren’t quite in sync, but begin to make sense later. “Head for Sand” ends up with a sparse breakdown, but the group generally keeps an interlocking rhythmic pulse. “Punisher” has a consistent pounding beat, and the stringed instruments and backing vocals play back-and-forth head games. “Music ti Watch ’97 Flyers Highlights To” has a bit more of a complex, proggy arrangement. Things get a bit shadowy with “Qumran (Don’t Spit in the Sacred Place)”, but “Nature Rides Again” ends the album on a breezy, optimistic stride.