In rotation for the past several weeks/months, this multi-view reveals the latest sonic landscape from 8 talented musicians. Plenty of brittle, glitch, abstract, noisy, mechanical and bass-infused sounds with releases by Adam Jay, Ascent, Cayos, Datassette, Furrows, IKTS, Syd Nukuluk, and Wirewound.
Adam Jay :: Inoperable Data (Detroit Underground)
Adam Jay is back at it, this time continuing to extract rumbling electro and breaks meant to bust down and dither into well executed sonic structures. Ten tracks that merge together even with their robust and robotic tentacles of techno and percussive fury, each piece runs parallel to some of Detroit’s inner streets from the mid-90’s. There’s a certain magnetism surrounding each track. Melodic moments are carefully thread between modular bubbles and rolling beats as blips’n bleeps flicker about in sweet desolation. A hefty dose of nostalgic electro-techno rhythms emerge as Adam Jay proves to be a force to be reckoned with. A craftsman utilizing all of his skills, there’s no shortage of dance-floor friendly tracks on Inoperable Data, and yet it also maintains an elevated amount of technical precision. The production value is set to the highest standard and the ruggedness of each piece cuts through moody strands making for a welcomed 2020 opener.
Ascent :: The Maw EP (Renraku)
An emotive pulse from the start, Ascent delivers tempered glitch-bass abstracts and vocal slices interweaving between rolling low-end crunch and melodic notes—this release somehow slipped through the cracks as it appears to have been released in August of 2018. The title track an amalgam of the artists’ ability to collapse beats, bass, distortion, and sound design for extraterrestrial encounters. Here we are given room to explore jagged rhythms and eroded breaks in full force. An almost tribal mood is unleashed where chilled ambient motifs drift between explosive percussive onslaughts and epic warbling notes abound. Overall a behemoth of an EP that spreads itself across multiple genres including rugged breaks, drill’n bass, IDM, glitch, and downtempo fluids with 100’s of ingredients creating a thick soup.
Cayos :: Map Legend EP (Schematic Music Company)
Map Legend is an extended player that exponentially grows. The depth of sound Cayos develops gradually breaks down glitch elements into their infinitesimal parts—making Map Legend an absorbing sonic collection. Ambient notes interact with drone-fields, soundtrack mosaics, and otherworldly landscapes to get lost within. Exploring instrumental slices, Cayos tethers hundreds of found sounds—molding them into textural spheres that unfold into surreal glitch abstracts from another dimension. The layers upon layers of building ambient tension continues to crumble as the listener is left to decipher its meaning. A mind-bending release that manages to fill an entire arena even with its relatively short run-time spread over six tracks of dense sound structures.
Datassette :: Kestrel Manoeuvres In The Dark (CPU)
“UK producer, programmer and DJ Datassette (aka John Davies) lands on CPU with a stunning braindance EP—four tracks of intricate Analord-esque rhythms and melodies that will satisfy even the most discerning IDM fans.” The press release clearly nails the sound of Datassette, and these tracks merge into and out of nostalgic wave-forms—synthesized bliss from start to end, low end bleeps flutter about tangled techno, acid, and ambient bits and bobbles. The whole package is infused with next level electronics, odd sonic shapes that somehow just make sense—blurring the lines between IDM of yesteryear with a timeless, futuristic take on robotic electro that is many light years ahead of itself.
Furrows :: A Thin Veneer (Courier Sound)
Nine tracks spread across 50 minutes, Furrows’ aptly-titled album blends a myriad of found sounds, abstract pulses, shattered debris, and drifting drone-scapes as they coalesce and fade away. A mysterious sonic fabric tethered together by forces unknown allows each piece to erode and cast shadows across a landscape we’ve yet to discover. Improvised noise elements interact with synth motifs and sandblasted notes, instrumental clicks’n cuts, and dithered industrial slabs. And yet, while there are ambient sheets spread evenly across, Furrows manages to distill microscopic detail and a certain harmonious balance that is both turbulent and propelling—often at the same time. Curious sound sculptures muddied by low-rumbling fissures tend to break apart then converge as they ultimately create a seamless foray into uncharted territory.
IKTS :: Neural Synthesis EP (Evel)
Sound synthesis and hundreds of clips, clicks, and metallic clangs blend together like a wicked electrical concoction that even Autechre might have playing in the background. Strange, disjointed, and yet (somehow) emotive, the creative collapse of beats spread as far as the eye can see, allowing each track—and there’s a half-dozen here—to evolve, simmer, and coalesce into some kind of glitch-infused beauty of a mess. Pleasantly abstract, there’s an air of simplicity revealed on Neural Synthesis while the flickering of bits and pieces ricochet from glass walls. From the outside this EP may come across as abrasive and filled with complex geometric electronics without soul, however, if you dig a little deeper, just below the maze of digital to analog noise, IKTS manages to allow gentle melodies to interact and unfold carefully. An interesting slice of erratic exp-electronics with a cybernetic heartbeat.
Syd Nukuluk :: Data X Change EP (Slowfoot)
The press excerpt noted that “Data X Change is the debut release from Syd Nukuluk, a producer, songwriter and artist based in London. Written and recorded over the space of a year in a variety of locations and states of mind, it is a long awaited first release for the young artist. Featuring the talents of French-British rapper Monika and a series of up and coming South London musicians, Data X Change presents a bold, post-digital future of British experimental pop music.” We’re fully on-board with the description—the five tracks featured on this EP run through abstract glitch elements, field recordings, trip-hop, and instrumental strings tethered throughout, find a welcomed retreat from the norm. Each piece a bustling amalgam of thought provoking beats and wide open spaces, voices, and lyrical raps carefully spliced between low-end tones and harmonies. A warm, crunchy, chilled, and exploratory extended player that brings back memories of Tobias Lilja’s musical dynamics.
Wirewound :: Discharger (Kaer’Uiks)
A full length album by the prolific and multi-talented Romanian sonic scrambler has landed and it’s an expressive foray through harsh sound-scraping made of dust and debris. Discharger is activated by momentous glitch landscapes, aggressive acidic fluids, and tectonic plates colliding with each other. Not unlike what we’ve come to expect from Wirewound—next level dark electronics are filled to the brim with just about every tool in his arsenal to expose even the slightest sounds as they come to life via post-industrial fragments matching up to artists like Richard Devine. A fine-tuned collection of expressive rhythms that collects a myriad of genres such as techno, IDM, bass, drone, and surreal atmospherics that doesn’t let up even for a minute.
