Icky Reels :: DL Poisons (Self Released)

The downtempo chug is still there, but it’s been processed through decades of IDM evolution, filtered through the same sensibility that informed Beans‘ abstract hip-hop work and Schematic‘s experimental roster. DL Poisons‘ unsettling in the way that the best experimental electronic music should be, familiar enough to feel grounded, strange enough to keep you off balance.

Distortions that are very pleasant and almost nightmarish

 

DL Poisons is different than most electronic music out there in its unapologetic way of introducing itself. Adrian Bertolone — the mind behind Icky Reels (also known as Ay Fast), has spent over a decade crafting some of the freshest, most intriguing electronic music on the scene without much fanfare. He made his bones in Cleveland, Ohio’s Jerk, a gnashing, tempestuous noise rock group that centered on cheap and barely-functioning electronic gear systematically deconstructed by Bertolone and his bandmates. Rarely did a gig pass without some patched-together keyboard or synth ending up in the junk pile. But throughout Jerk‘s decade-long existence, Bertolone was concocting addictive, spastic, hyper-melodic digital music under the calling card Ay Fast. Long-running taste-making electronic label Schematic noticed this stealthy game of one-upmanship and began releasing Ay Fast‘s music.

Now based in Buffalo, New York, Bertolone has been churning out killer beats and quirky melodies for years, collaborating with Beans (Anti-Pop Consortium) on the acclaimed Haast album in 2017 and releasing a string of critically praised solo albums under the Icky Reels moniker, including Prefecture (2018) and Plips (2021).

He returns with DL Poisons, and it’s very unique in its sound loops and breaks. The opener from the beginning is a warm welcome to the glitch aesthetics he later teases in his middle tracks. “I Have The Tears” sets the tone — distorted, warped, unsettling. “Ded Lee” starts off with this lullaby lo-fi type of rhythm that ends up in choppiness of samples and distorted kick drums. This seems to be a tease to what Bertolone does throughout the album as he recycles this type of sound with these kicks and distortions that are very pleasant and almost nightmarish and uncomfortable at the same time. The kicks are degraded, punchy, and sit in a strange space between broken and purposeful.

Something more fractured, more glitchy, more modern ::

“Alley Dark Wet” and “Curtis” bleed into each other, I can hear both of the sounds and sample kits belong together and complement each other as tracks. They share the same sonic DNA, the same murky atmosphere, and the same approach to rhythm. His track “Hi Mommy” is the longest running track here and seems good as a long interlude of glitches and dark samples. It sprawls across its six-and-a-half-minute runtime, building and decaying in waves.

“Booze Brain” is a standout for me in this release. It’s different from the rest in its style and delivery. I kind of wish the whole album sounded like this or went in this direction, but it was fun to listen to. The beat here is just flawless as it entices the listener to want more and engages in good glitch play with its repeats and degraded samples. There are a few switch-ups on the beat here which makes it pleasant to listen to. It’s crafted well in its beat programming and basslines. The production feels tighter, more focused, more intentional than the rest of the album.

“DL Potion” and “Tears Version 2” close the album out. The last track is an ambient piece but still sounds very nightmarish — a great way to close such a diverse piece of work. The synths drift, the textures smear, and the atmosphere lingers in a way that feels both unsettling and strangely comforting.

This type of style is different, and I’m not even sure where to place this piece of electronic music. I’m describing it as very dark and nightmarish, almost odd to hear, sparking your curiosity. There’s a lineage here that traces back to the downtempo and trip-hop pioneers of the early 90s — Nightmares on Wax‘s A Word of Science (1991) and Smokers Delight (1995) come to mind; albums that fused stark rhythms with funk, soul, and hip-hop while still incorporating techno and experimental sound design. But where Nightmares on Wax leaned into jazz-inflected grooves and dub-soaked atmospheres, Bertolone takes that blueprint and warps it into something more fractured, more glitchy, more modern.

This is old-school Nightmares on Wax but with a modern twist of dark ambience and glitch play. The downtempo chug is still there, but it’s been processed through decades of IDM evolution, filtered through the same sensibility that informed Beans‘ abstract hip-hop work and Schematic‘s experimental roster. It’s unsettling in the way that the best experimental electronic music should be, familiar enough to feel grounded, strange enough to keep you off balance.

DL Poisons is available on Bandcamp.