South West Wales, UK-based BLAEN is back with another vivid audio assault titled Semi Lunar Canals—6-tracks that bend, twist and rattle for Bilbao Spain’s Augsmatic Diaspore.
Shattering the prototypical IDM/breaks mold
South West Wales, UK-based BLAEN is back with another vivid audio assault titled Semi Lunar Canals—6-tracks that bend, twist and rattle for Bilbao Spain’s Augsmatic Diaspore.
Shattering the prototypical IDM/breaks mold, BLAEN blasts away with impacting power on the opening track “jory [lockdown remix]” featuring explosive drum’n bass tied to rugged melodic blips and bleeps. Shifting into more serene downtempo beats, “semi lunar canals [viralbeats]” offers fluid acid-techno acrobatics as “hydraelectrica” drips further down the proverbial acid wormhole. Many miles ahead of the IDM pack, tracks like “ILM Fuq slo” feature shuffling drums and lucid rhythms full of echoed funk while the sporadic bass onslaught of “Jori Nos” takes us to current-era Meat Beat Manifesto tracks like “ONE” (ONE EP split with Scanone on Yellow Machines 2019) and “No Design” (from Opaque Couché, Flexidisc 2019). Closing with “semi lunar canals [nobeats],” BLAEN obliterates the electro shrubbery of its counterpart—or shall we say viralbeats—for a tantalizing if not vaporized plume of sonic details blended in a surreal modular/ambient soup. Semi Lunar Canals is jam-packed—a blistering album of next-level electronics worth the investment.
Semi Lunar Canals is available on Augsmatic Diaspore. [Bandcamp]
