V/A :: Friendly Integration V2 (Detroit Underground)

A couple dozen tracks sees the forward thinking audio-art boutique that is Detroit Underground pushing ahead Volume 2 in the Friendly Integration series.

A well-balanced display with a range of motion keeps DetUnd’s Friendly Integration V2 cross-pollinating fluid electrical mixtures and skewed sonic calibration. Perhaps best absorbed as broken data bits combining an abundance of phases, Detroit Underground offers fractured dub, techno, ambient, exp-electronic and ambient segments with highs and lows from start to end.

Kero takes center-stage via low-riding microscopic bass emulsion overload on “MMVSMD” as Roel Funcken’s percussive rhythmic shattering on “Demic” evades a refined charm. Valance Drakes continues in his subtle DSP spell, shifting leftfield electro crumbs on the beatified “Loathing And Fear.” But not all is lost in a sea of crunch. Drumcell’s “Somatic Dispersion” elicits synthesized ambient strands running parallel to a Morton Subotnic groove as Carla Scaletti’s “Medieval Miasma” flows into spherical emotive drones. Annie Hall takes “Desidia” into experimental electro terrain where tangled shuffling weaves a downtempo pulse.

There are so many electron slivers sliding back and forth on V2 that it’s hard to keep a firm hold of any particular theme, but then again, perhaps that was the intention. This spatial environment brings together friendly integration.

Friendly Integration Volume 2 is available on Detroit Underground.