V/A :: Cambiare (Opal Tapes)

An album for hungry ears. Adventurous and innovative throughout, Cambiare serves as a brilliant introduction to a wealth of intriguing artists.

Cambiare, a compilation from the Opal Tapes label, is a summation of the outer reaches of underground dance stylings and practices that should leave most listeners with many new avenues to explore. Opening with the subtle twinkling pipe-groan techno chug of “Monastery” by Body Boys, the album goes on to paint a wide canvas of sound. Noirish automated machine clatter abuts denuded rust-house on the more abrasive tracks from BAT, Worker/Parasite, and WOMB. “Aleph” by KETEV is full of throbbing looped vinyl run-off and under-soil insectoid tunneling, a rhythm coalescent from swirls of oil-streaked mud. Beau Six-0’s “Mummification Song” is a hymn of squealing synth and clanking wind-tossed chains; complemented well with the droning mist-drenched long sighing exhalation of “10” by Aniello. Beautiful aching kosmiche-step can be found in “Nekromanterna Från Kågedalen” by D.Å.R.F.D.H.S. Yves De May with “Faux Movements” and Absurder with “We All Have a Past” offer creeping indistinct menace and haunted oddness. Karen Gwyers’ “Girl with Pitbull” is perhaps the best track, a sharply direct dance-floor command, a complex muscle-tweaking delight, irresistible and captivating.

Cambiare is an album for hungry ears. Adventurous and innovative throughout, this compilation serves as a brilliant introduction to a wealth of intriguing artists.

Cambiare is available on Opal Tapes.