Ian Boddy is a fine ship captain, and he assembled a compilation that doesn’t only showcase the strengths of the individual contributors—he managed to offer a detailed picture of modular artistic possibilities, from vintage to modern machines, from beautiful sound painting to harsher, tenser spaces.
A detailed picture of modular artistic possibilities
There’s a rhythm to a review. Contextual introduction, a quick rhetorical trick to rope the reader in, discussion of some musical ideas and themes evoked in the album, conclusion on who would like this and hopefully some general praise on the album.
I don’t think this dance is necessary about ‘Form and Function’. It’s an impeccable collection of modular tracks and a genuinely exciting electronic record. Listen to it, wish list it, buy it, it’s well worth your time. But I guess I need to explain why I think that, unless you’re kind enough to take my enthusiasm at face value.
It’s a strange thing that we’ve come to think of “modular music” as a genre, although not a new phenomenon. The terms “Guitar music” bring to mind images of 80’s virtuoso and the new wave of young fusion players. There are probably some people who define part of their musical tastes as “piano music.” Inextricably linked with the instrument comes a musical language and attitude, but also a cliché of that musical language. “Guitar music” is not rock yet is always thought of first as part of the rock heritage.
It’s a testament not only to the standard of quality but also to the careful attention to curating from DiN that Form and Function should be such a diverse and interesting record—especially considering how young modulars are in the music world. But Ian Boddy is a fine ship captain, and he assembled a compilation that doesn’t only showcase the strengths of the individual contributors—he managed to offer a detailed picture of modular artistic possibilities, from vintage to modern machines, from beautiful sound painting to harsher, tenser spaces.
It would be a rote exercise to detail each track, first of all because they’re all good, second because the Bandcamp page of a record does a pretty good job of it. Suffice to say that there are some notable names like Andrew Huang and Lightbath, contemporary Eurorack gear as well as a superb starter performed on a vintage Serge by Batchas, and that the final piece by Tim Held is worth the price of admission alone. As far as the small scene of contemporary modular music is concerned, Form and Function is a wide-ranging and consistently successful compilation, and one of my current favorites regarding this corner of the electronic music ecosystem.
Tone Science Module No.4 Form and Function is available on DiN. [Bandcamp]
