8-tracks, filled with clever modular activity front to back and well-worth the $1/each price-tag.
Currently residing in Sacramento—originally from Indianapolis—Retic (aka Doug Teike) has produced electronic music for about 16-years and continues to purvey and pursue his audio signature. I’ll admit up-front coming into this review, that I’m surprised I don’t have a larger Retic library, having only his 2007 Saturn Day Trajectory album on Mute Rebellion at quick access described as “tricky interleaving of keen beats and sly sine-wave bass with crackerjack melodies.” Somnolent Massive (Mute Rebellion, 2009) also received similar Igloo praise: “…evoking Boards of Canada but mixing in with some classic Rephlex / Braindance sounds.”
Moving on with Keep Drinking The Water, we see Retic’s sound flowing into calmer waters as “Slinky” attests to with its laid-back, morphed glitch, and downbeat pitter-patter. Elsewhere there are Detroit inspired nuggets (ie. “Flavour”) where classic The Detroit Escalator Company comes to mind as relaxed synthesizer tones buzz and sizzle in the foreground. “Undead Pixel” manages to elicit familiar frequencies from The D, its pleasant sojourn through crisp atmospherics and persistent beatwork is relaxed and moving.
Retic, however, excels in the grittier, dribbling percussive bass noodles found on highlights such as “Idiot Savant,” and “Knuckle Drag.” Reminiscent of Dead Fader, Retic crafts glitched-out tentacles of primordial sonic shapes in these two pieces alone—which could very well take on a life form of their own. The distorted tribal manifest on “Hachikka” also moves into more technoid terrain and balances the album quite well. More minimal-techno flares flicker about on “Infinitely Self Aware,” a faster-paced slice of life. And for those after more tranquil, early Quinoline Yellow-inspired pathways of IDM’s yesteryear, “Heaventh” offers a brisk, brittle and bright 6-minute panoramic.
8-tracks, filled with clever modular activity front-to-back and well-worth the $1/each price-tag.
Keep Drinking The Water is available on Bandcamp.
