The first sound on this collection is a fleet of decayed rave sirens, exiting a club and evaporating into nothingness. Well, not quite nothingness; a sweet twirl of pads, steely melodic notes and soft stereo clicks. The new Kid606 album seems to be investigating the space between the clouds and the neon-hued tragic glamour of LA.
The first sound on this collection is a fleet of decayed rave sirens, exiting a club and evaporating into nothingness. Well, not quite nothingness; a sweet twirl of pads, steely melodic notes and soft stereo clicks. The new Kid606 album seems to be investigating the space between the clouds and the neon-hued tragic glamour of LA. Following a move from Berlin, there has been a renewed focus on softer, gentler sounds. Subtitled Escape to Los Angeles there may be a nods or two towards the John Carpenter’s iconic soundtrack, but one mostly gets the feeling of an assuring and safe airplane decent, if tinged with melancholia.
These pieces are not drowsy, nocturnal lullabies but the stuff of sunrises; more effective still if one didn’t make it to bed the night before. “The Cemetary Kates” pulls ambient techno pads out of a club and couples them with what sounds to be a heavily filtered and distorted guitar solo over the Californian open road. “Keys View” plies detuned, shimmering synths over one another, harnessed to irregular and triumphant chord changes.
More minimal pieces, both in arrangement and emotional scale, are equally successful. “One Unchanging Constant in my World of Variables” and “Yucca Valley” both take the rhythmic delay-trailing pianos from Aphex Twin’s “Domino” and present it in two different styles; the former a slow emotional burner and the latter a lopsided k-hole sized spaceout. Elsewhere it’s colder in tone, more Berlin-School in pieces like “Lost Horse Mine” and “Desert Christ” where drama is reached by campy, stately means. “Sleepy Meerkay Lullaby” finishes with an altogether different tone. Steve Reich and Bach by way of Jim O’Rourke’s “I’m Happy and I’m Singing;” melody, counterpoint and bass are arpeggiated up and down a minor scale with pleasing logic and order.
In the past, when not in full battle gabber mode, Kid606 often leaned toward a tuneful mode showing off his knack for arrangement while also displaying a surprisingly twee hand when it came to keyboard melodies. Far less buoyant and frankly less irritating, the past few releases he has made has shown a flair for creating effecting emotional music with a subtle sense of melody. As familiar as some of the ambient tropes that are used on this collection may be, there is consistent strength in craft and unique touches in sound design and instrumental palettes. “Fuck Up Everything You Can Before You Plan On Slowing Down” he once titled a track on an earlier album. Although the amen breaks, the pop song shredding, and monster kick drums are long gone, this varied and animated collection suggests that there’s plenty to fuck up, in the finest way possible, even as he slows down.
Recollected Ambient Works Vol.2: Escape to Los Angeles is available on Tigerbeat6.
