Through Flow Zone, a sweet eight-track suite that combines melodic veils and abstract electro-nic structures, CRC X VC-118A provides a feast of acidic electro and breaks in this calming assemblage for Touched Music.
A feast of acidic electro and breaks
Through Flow Zone, a sweet eight-track suite that combines melodic veils and abstract electro-nic structures, CRC X VC-118A provides a feast of acidic electro and breaks in this calming assemblage for Touched Music. Both “Above” and the closing title track accomplish this by bursting through the gates with stirring synth strands and beautiful old-school rhythmic flairs. The B12, Global Communication, and Bitstream parallels can be traced back a couple decades as CRC X VC-118A emphasizes solid, deeply threaded grooves while dipping into saturated rolling breakbeats (see “Different Times” and “Last Night”) and even touching Detroit techno spheres along the way.
“Virga,” meanwhile, drenches itself in bouncing strings of life where artists like Plaid and Bola are immediately brought to the fore; its saccharine and danceable quality is utterly effective and contagious. As I write this review, my wife is literally dancing to this powerful piece on a sunny Sunday morning. Not forgetting the brushed bass-beat infused rhythm’n flux of “Different Times” and “Spores” that usher in the light within their wide-spectrum electronica sheen.
In closing, the avid Touched Music fan—and electronic music aficionados—can’t deny the fact that these sonic snapshots are deeply rooted within IDM soils from the mid to late 1990s (simply reference Plastikman, Radioactive Man, and The Future Sound of London), where minimal ambient-techno and electro branches bend and twist into obscure yet driving sequences (see “Out Standing” and “Different Times”). It’s a potent combination that needs to be listened to all at once as eight pulsing compositions with evocative soundscapes make up this perplexing, exquisite, and aptly-titled release.
CRC Is Michael Diekmann (aka part of Morphology, Subutex Willer, Virta, Wav) and VC-118A (aka Mohlao, Multicast Dynamics, Samuel Van Dijk).
Flow Zone is available on Touched Music. [Bandcamp]
