The New Taxonomy is effervescent in its construct—weaving elongated dub realms with ease. Low-end waves continually crash against sharpened 4/4 mechanics which blends in a kaleidoscopic, surreal dream state.
Cathode Ray Tube (aka Chang Terhune) embarks on perhaps his most thorough and expansive album to date. Where past releases were engorged by visceral electronic mayhem, The New Taxonomy is just as blistering, its basslines rumbling at full capacity—yet there’s a calmer, systematic order.
Take the synth-infused “Social Ghosts” as it evolves into minimal techno spurts that fans of Frank Bretschneider would enjoy for its charismatic flow. “The Number Turquoise” contains gentle chugging echoes surrounded by roughened sound sculpting, and eventually opens into an expansive dub-techno mixture of clangs, bells, and disjointed noises. There are diffused industrial-ambient mechanisms in abundance on “Auld 114e,” a nine minute adventure beyond the ultraworld. Dissolved gritty techno slabs break apart on the heady kosmiche data of “Incept Date.” Elsewhere you’ll find old-school electronica shifting in a dizzying array as noted on the hypnotic “Good Servant (for Irv)” flurry. For these ears, the crowning achievement comes into light on “Normal Kids,” a nostalgic Artificial Intelligence-era gem that would round off any Global Communications tune from the mid-90s. 12-minutes of blissful, delicately evolved beats and subdued bass that is carefully wrapped around a macrocosm of brittle melodies. It all entangles into a beautiful mess of dusty rhythmic finesse that I hope to hear more of from this multi-talented musician.
The New Taxonomy is effervescent in its construct—weaving elongated dub realms with ease. Low-end waves continually crash against sharpened 4/4 mechanics which blends in a kaleidoscopic, surreal dream state.
The New Taxonomy is available on The Crime League.
