The album is a diverse and playful exploration of jazz, lounge, hip-hop and IDM electronica carefully molded, shaped and pressed into eleven tracks of signature Lusine ICL sound.
A journey without bumps and mishaps, but with plenty to see and hear
A Pseudo Steady State (originally released by U-Cover in 2000 and Hymen as two vinyl EP’s) is Lusine ICL’s long player, reissued digitally on Ant-Zen. The album is a diverse and playful exploration of jazz, lounge, hip-hop and IDM electronica carefully molded, shaped and pressed into eleven tracks of signature Lusine ICL sound.
“Feed Me” recalls early DJ Food with a healthy dose of cutup sound and warm keyboards playing at the edges. “SEM 1” is a brief meditation on a glitchy, atonal looping sample, leading into the downtempo roll of “Freak’s” drum loop and simple synth excursion. “Threshold of Pain” whirrs and clicks like a Pole track at first as it develops into a squeaking, squelching jam with errant noises and bleats like a casual Friday at the droid factory. “SEM 2” is a flute loop (not Fruit Loop) that hovers and shifts inside a shimmery blanket of reverb. “Lazydayz” lands firmly in downtempo territory where a solid drum loop interacts with cutups and electronics that form into a sweet combination of the synthetic mimicking the organic. “SEM 3” is all kosmiche ambience of an arpeggiated synthesizer reverberating into the deep darkness of space. “Slipthrough” burbles with an arpeggiated sequence echoing along as a drum loop slowly fades in with a loping bassline creating a smooth and soft mood of IDM-esque flavors. “Mod” brings angular looping rhythms together with gritty synths that morph into an early Aught’s style IDM jam. “SEM 4” loops static, literally over an amorphous/melodic loop like the hold music at the Salvador Dali museum before devolving into distorted mayhem, a gray goo of sound. “Back Track” closes the album, a slowly evolving piece of ambience that becomes a mellow glide over foggy marshes of sound.
Like the title says, this album is a journey without bumps and mishaps, but with plenty to see and hear.
A Pseudo Steady State is available on Ant-Zen. [Bandcamp]
