Following on from 2018’s Spinflex, this latest outing is most enjoyable. While in places it feels like raw studio shenanigans and output, that output has been carefully polished that oozes strength and control along the way.
Dream sequences and countryside journeys
Since 2012 the Central Processing Unit label has ticked many of the boxes that Warp Records used to in my formative years. Definitive branding, careful selection of content, and a near-guarantee that you could pick up a release and find it lands in your ball-park of enjoyment. Maybe there’s something about Sheffield that lends itself to the emergence of great electronic music. Whatever it is, they’re clearly doing something right, and the latest addition is from Australian Tim Koch with Volplaning as no exception.
Following on from 2018’s Spinflex, this latest outing is most enjoyable. While in places it feels like raw studio shenanigans and output, that output has been carefully polished that oozes strength and control along the way.
The opener “Wooly Mammut” instantly satisfies my needs as I eagerly await the next offering from Plaid—this gives me all I need with its gliding phrases and steady rhythmic foundations, uncomplicated but certainly creative enough to pique the interest. Some great techniques are present—not only within tracks such as “Abandoned Reef” and “Fawnfawn” that both contain underpinning sounds (lower and higher-end pads respectively) carrying the pieces to their natural conclusion—but also structural decisions at play when it comes to the placement of tracks.
Surprise haywire moments chucked into the mix ::
Many pieces such as the intro (also “Alooza,” “Vowelstwo,” and “Nocturne”) have easy beginnings and easy ends, but among them are chaotic interjections such as the appearances of “Geht Ruckzuck” and “Deepshesleeps”—seemingly out of nowhere to throw things off balance. It’s these moments that skillfully break up tracks that remind of dream sequences and countryside journeys—with some surprise haywire moments chucked into the mix.
For me “Fawnfawn” still has to be the highlight element of this album. For all my love of composition and thought within electronic music, sometimes animal instinct gets the better of us all—and if that instinct is to dance your pants off, then the throw-down dance floor nature of this piece is going to stand out above everything else.
One of the few modern artists that have the foresight to release on Minidisc (it’s a superior format and I will die on that hill) although quickly sold out, this is thankfully still available digitally for all to enjoy. I suggest you seek it out.
Volplaning is available on Central Processing Unit. [Bandcamp]
