Due to the frustratingly limited nature of previous Toytronic releases and my failure to discover the label before it was too late, I have not heard any of Gimmik’s previous material save the few tracks that appear on compilations here and there. I therefore come to this release with a fresh outlook.
And it’s one of the best albums I’ve heard all year. Thankfully released on CD this time and therefore available to a wider audience, the 11 tracks on Back To Basics represents Toytronic’s output perfectly. Lush, evocative production, instantly memorable melody, varied thematic content, complex programming: it’s all here. And, at just over 40 minutes, these facets are coupled with some of the most carefully considered pacing I’ve heard on an album since Deru’s Pushing Air full length on Neo Ouija.
All of the tracks are perfectly timed and before you know it, the album is over. You’ll want to listen to it again straight away, I guarantee it. In fact, just stick the album on repeat. You probably won’t even notice until you’ve listened to it at least three times. Beautifully assembled by a master craftsmen, the seamless blending of natural sounds, staggering and inspired use of heavily textured reverb effects together with perfectly balanced DSP trickery is evident throughout.
For sheer opening impact, you won’t find much better than “Let’s Play Cricket.” Opening with the natural sounds of cricket song (ah puns, how I love them) it soon shudders into life: incandescent ambience studded with glitched-out crackles, crunches and twisted percussion that shatter over one of the most memorable melodies I’ve heard in years. At its epicenter it dissolves into cut-up chaos before reaffirming its basic melodic structure once more. The following track, “Un Jour,” couldn’t be more different, featuring an acoustic guitar hook with squeaky, echoing fret-work splashing over computer blips and glacial synth-washes. You simply won’t find better than tracks like “Le Ciel:” a symphony of effervescent percussion, myriad layers of technicolor ambience, exquisite harmony and melody, or the cavernous “Syntax” with its mellow, chord-driven bass tones rolling beneath yet another grandiose, echoing theme. There are numerous strictly ambient pieces of offer here too. In this context the one track that perhaps doesn’t really work is the spiky and abrupt drum ‘n bass driven “Booga.” Whilst it’s a very fine, and rather amusing track, the sudden switch to this rather extreme style feels odd.
This is a true classic in every sense of the word and my album of the year, no contest. Toytronic would do well to champion Back to Basics as a flagship release. The production is absolutely flawless and, it has to be said, sounds extremely expensive too. Mixing styles effortlessly within a strikingly diminutive running time, Back to Basics, exudes passion, depth, vibrancy, blistering energy and powerfully evocative soundscaping. Utterly breathtaking.
Back to Basics is OUT NOW on Toytronic Records.
