The resulting experience of Sorry I Didn’t Realize feels untethered from trends or nostalgia bait, instead standing defiantly above contemporaries as both tribute and evolution — easily deserving placement near summit of any Best of 2026 conversation.
Blueprints for worlds hidden somewhere between memory and machinery
At thirteen in 1990, somewhere amid the neon haze of early ’90s arcades and stacks of dubbed cassette tapes, my older brother cracked open a portal into electronic music that felt alien, mind-blowing, and impossibly futuristic. Names like 808 State, Meat Beat Manifesto, Pop Will Eat Itself, and Front 242 became entry points into a labyrinth of shadowy rhythms, machine funk, and experimental circuitry unlike anything I’d encountered before. That decade unfolded as a relentless search through strange frequencies and fractured sound design, each discovery widening horizons further. Soon, artists such as Autechre, Aphex Twin, Plaid, The Future Sound of London, and Boards of Canada occupied permanent space within an ever-growing stack of CDs and vinyl, while fascination with IDM and leftfield experimentation evolved into something far deeper than casual listening. Those records felt less like albums and more like transmissions from another reality — blueprints for worlds hidden somewhere between memory and machinery.
Sheffield-based Michael Robinson (aka iNFO) inhabits a deeply treasured corner of that lineage, channeling echoes of Warp’s formative Artificial Intelligence era into downtempo constructions that drift with uncanny futurism. Opener “I Missed It While It Was Happening” immediately locks into bleep-laced propulsion, threading murky rhythmic tension through vast ambient space, while Ae/Tri Repetae-sparked piece titled “Too Late To Ask Why,” and Plaid-leaning “You Paused, I Didn’t,” and “Sorry I Didn’t Realise” shimmer with cosmic detachment, as though broadcast from some forgotten satellite orbiting distant galaxies. Nervous melodic fragments twitch beneath polished surfaces, constantly threatening to spill over their edges.
Standing defiantly above contemporaries as both tribute and evolution ::
Elsewhere, “I Thought I Understood” and “Apologies I Didn’t Rehearse” tap directly into Detroit futurism reminiscent of The Detroit Escalator Company, where luminous synth work collides with gently weathered beat architecture. Yet Sorry I Didn’t Realize refuses to survive purely on reverence. Certainly, shades of Deepchord, Rod Modell, and Global Communication hover throughout much of its runtime, though “This Makes Sense In Retrospect” dismantles those familiar textures into glistening glitch fragments and precision-cut micro-rhythms, balancing warmth with digital dislocation in ways that feel simultaneously retrospective and startlingly fresh.
Penultimate cut “I Really Shouldn’t Have Come” descends into darker terrain altogether, coating Robinson’s sound design in a soot-streaked electronic patina while channeling downtempo breakbeat movements evocative of Bola. Atmospheric layers scrape against stratospheric synth currents, pushing everything skyward with breathtaking control. The resulting experience feels untethered from trends or nostalgia bait, instead standing defiantly above contemporaries as both tribute and evolution — easily deserving placement near summit of any Best of 2026 conversation.
As always, exm delivers exceptional mastering work, bringing every detail to life with clarity, depth, and power. Paired with the amazingly surreal artwork by Mattia Travaglini Artworks, the entire package is elevated to another level entirely — a perfect union of sound and vision.
Sorry I Didn’t Realize is available on Touched Music. [Bandcamp]
