On & On collects broken beats, driving rhythms, glitchy strands and transforming ambient ice sheets from just above the stratosphere it seems. Back and forth, and around again, classic Lusine ICL elements are blended with Loess, Access To Arasaka and Monolake—personal favorites from the past.
Piotr Michałowski’s own Warsaw, Poland-based N_Coded is also home to his debut On & On, an album delving head first into nostalgic IDM-tinged bliss. We last heard from Nmls on the exquisite, yet short running Component Records EP titled Transmission (2014)—two original tracks with two remixes—and it has felt like too long a wait for this album to arrive.
After listening intently, I was certain that these crystalline melodies and punchy beats were familiar. Low and behold, back-checking the music library for what I knew was an album titled “A,” was not an easy feat. It turns out that Piotr is one-half of Ambot (with Paul Ryttel aka Xlorite)—and I had written a review of the album A in 2013 as well as listing it in the Igloo Magazine Best of 2013 list. I try not to read press-releases in an attempt to remain clear, concise and non-biased about what I’m listening to, but buried in the fine-print, one can find the same connection points.
Certainly worth the wait, On & On collects (similar) broken beats, driving rhythms, glitchy strands and transforming ambient ice sheets from just above the stratosphere it seems. Back and forth, and around again, classic Lusine ICL elements are blended with Loess, Access To Arasaka and Monolake—personal favorites from the past. Electrical pulsars, grit and fluid tones are surrounded by tangled percussion, dense particle waves and calm emotional interactions. Nmls reshapes past IDM iterations into newly translucent realms, casting along the way, a flickering light of sonic hope. Highlights include the title track, “Shimmer,” “Not Today,” and “Ascension.” Not forgetting Monokle’s “Tension” remix as it rips apart the original and tethers it into a magnetic, breaks-infused powerhouse worth every minute. It’s easy to say that On & On has inched its way into our Best of 2016 list, a refined musical slice of life.
On & On is available on N_Coded.
Additionally, a dedicated Augmented Reality mobile application, which interacts with the album cover is also available.
