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Cepia :: Dowry EP (Ghostly, 12″)
Electronica is such a small community that one AIM chat with an artist
and a couple 6 packs later you’ll probably know every artist in the
U.S. Fortunately, I didn’t meet Huntley Miller aka Cepia through such
confines, but instead from drunken e-mail exchanges and trading of
shows. So, it was with a little bit of dread that I found out I’m
reviewing Huntley’s first EP for Ghostly. Fearing it would be too IDM to
be worth listening to, I’ve instead found one of the better
rejuvinations of the olde IDM sound. Mr. Miller, a fan of that
tech-house music we’re all hearing about, has quitely crafted the
stuttering thoughful and at times academic weirdness of pondering over
IDM too much into a full on new genre. Please folks, take not this an
IDM album that barely has anything to do with electro, Aphex Twin,
disco, or even, yes, house (ahh thank god). Had the legions of Americans
who raved away in the 90s become intelligent dance music lovers instead
of just ignorant of dance music (note: this comment doesn’t refer to
anyone who reads Igloo), we might have taken this road sooner and come
out the better for it. Balanced between the twittering experimentalism
of Autechre mixed with Raster-Norton, Huntley brings a full fledged
realization of what all those error mixed sign-age confused plug-in
blurps can be when they’re made into techno that’s freeform and the
better for it. He’s unleashed the belt from those anorexic sonic models
that strut down Cologne’s runways. The results vary per song, but it’s
all winners here.
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Daniel Wang :: Berlin Sunrise (Ghostly, 12″)
I’ve never been in a dance club. I’ve never raved the night away on
ectasty. But had I been there at the start, the sounds of disco would
certianly have been as seductive as the copious drug culture that
surrounded it all. And had I been there for disco, I’m sure I would
have heard a lot of stuff like Daniel Wang in all the right clubs, and
I’m sure I would have been kinda bored with it after a few days. Wang,
along with Metro Area, and others is part of the out-crop of
neuvau-disco decidedly centered on pushing the left-leaning and widely
forgotten masters of the past back into the spotlight.
Listening to Maurice Fulton’s back catalogue recently I had to wonder why !!! choose
him of all the numerous early house and late disco producers to define
their sound. After listening to Wang the answer is now apparent to me,
Fulton’s work is flawed by invention, his samples clash in context and
mood patching together work that unsettle expectations while acting as
soundtracks for people I’ve never met. But Fulton’s flaws make him
timeless, the tracks are like a charming remembrance of embarrassment.
Wang, on the other hand, only conjures nostalgia, his tracks don’t
have the resonant usefulness of genuine freakbeat. There’s something
I’m slowly rambling towards here, oh yeah the outre side of disco’s
advantage is a psychological use, it’s soul filled chords and crude
samples were squiggles of a mind set well outside my own, making the
music a tonic of sorts a musical prozac that provides a healthy
reminder there’s more out there than your immediate surroundings –but
Wang is immune to freakbeat’s conscious, he takes their sounds and forgets their message. If anything of this has made sense to you then
perhaps you can understand why I think Berlin Sunrise is a great album,
built on the backs of musicians that never cared to be.
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Lawrence :: 3x EP’s (Ghostly, CD-r)
I’ve never heard of Lawrence before and his Ghostly debut lacks Wang’s
engrossing fetishism for disco-ism and Cepia’s needed breaking of the
IDM mold. On this CD-r of 3 EP’s, his tracks come out last. Ambient,
laid back, and melodic it reminds quite heavily of a Merck release
actually. That said it has all the strengths of Merck (i.e
it’s a good enjoyable album with an excellent footing in musics
pioneered by other artists). Each track builds from strings and
sonoroties into pulsing techno work outs. I know that’s a cliche, but
a lot of this album is too. Lawrence’s strength lies in his ability to
merge ambience to techno’s base, creating a hybrid that’s slightly
unusual, but still not individualistic enough to merit serious
attention in this pack of EPs.
*Note: Image scan of Spark EP.
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All releases are currently available on Ghostly International.
