Padonvan Sequence shows an artist willing to lay it on thick on the psychedelics over techno beats.
In “Polyegg Eighty-Six,” a persistent percussion makes its way through what seems to be a tribal, almost jungly, beat. For around six and a half minutes, the sounds are constantly contrasted with elusive synths and samples. The effect is that of being lost in a futuristic city. Diverse, multicultural sounds converge in a track that dares to zig when it should zag. Violins can be heard in the distance, but they don’t ever come to the foreground, making the track a bit of an outlier, but stronger because of it.
Enter Sound Strider’s Padovan Sequence, a short EP that showcases Sam Waks musical talents (full disclosure: Sam Waks is also a writer for Igloo) and it does a pretty good job in showing Waks’ musical interests. Spoiler alert: the EP can go from painting an eerie ambient landscape (opener “Polyegg Eighty-Six”) to vocal-led tracks such as “Operation Mindfuck 1,14.” Though not gritty enough to be grime and not soft enough (Waks doesn’t let his production work go unnoticed in “Mindfuck) to be rap, Padovan Sequence shows an artist willing to lay it on thick on the psychedelics over techno beats. “Sun Power Knowledge” is a prime example of this, giving him chance to use samples and synths over pulsating percussion.
Although sometimes uneven, Padovan Sequence is never boring. Even on a track such as “TAZ 200,” Waks’ sound collages are a fun listen though he sometimes seems want to do too many things at the same time. This, however, is not a defect. An excess of ideas is never a bad thing.
Padovan Sequence EP is available on La Briche. [Bandcamp]
