While there may be a few subliminal messages tucked deep in the wrinkles of Audio Creep, Pandacetamol creates a counterbalance between minimal electronics and breathtaking IDM excursions that are at times groovy. A welcome retreat to say the least.
Vast and expansive soundscapes
Sometimes going in blind is better than setting an expectation, and that’s what I’ve done with this release. No background synopsis, prepared viewpoint, or research done in advance. Pandacetamol simply creates vast and expansive soundscapes right from the onset.
Often drifting, falling and cascading effortlessly that fans of early Artificial Intelligence-era electronica versus Plastikman’s sparse ambient trajectory will easily consume. Gentle pads and floating electronic elements are countered by melodic bits and acidic slices as the opening track “Three French 75s” reveals. With Audio Creep, there’s a darker mood thread throughout. Sometimes lurking in the background with strange voices passing by, ambient layers merge with hundreds of found sounds, leftfield technoid strands, and psychedelic tones. As if the artists’ intent was to hypnotize—”Plastic Emotion” contains theremin drizzles that takes this track front and center. Balancing the album with tracks that evade description but could very well fall into the dark-ambient realm, tracks like “Control Illusion” and “Dark Fog” come across as soundtracks to a far away galaxy as ice crystals and glitch fractals coalesce.
While there may be a few subliminal messages tucked deep in the wrinkles of Audio Creep (have a listen to “Detail is in the Devil,” for example), Pandacetamol creates a counterbalance between minimal electronics and breathtaking IDM excursions that are at times groovy. A welcome retreat to say the least.
Audio Creep is available on Rednetic. [Bandcamp]
