Many of you might know Konstrukt as the forward-thinking collective of musicians who also happen to curate and promote live events in and around the SF area. This time around they’ve consolidated their skills on a 60-minute audio road-trip of downbeat electronic hip-hop welded to sheared digital rhythms (as a record label). It’s a conglomeration of musicians doing what they do best; producing skewed electrical frequencies.
Let’s investigate:
Veering into its own path, let it be known that Ions simply presents emotional plateaus of crisp percussion. Opening with Proqxis’ “III,” the mood is set; a sincere atmospheric melody slivers its way through minuscule beats until Damiak unleashes “Cocol Re Fin,” a Gescom infested cacophony of crumbling hip-hop and tricked-out digital mayhem (it’s a distinctly recognizable Damiak recipe that some folks may be familiar with on n5MD). Comute lays down a jazzy downbeat flow on “Dogmask” that fans of Machine Drum would eat-up in seconds. Maredsous’s emotive “Eye_to_i” has a surreal effect as it procures a classical Artificial Intelligence feel while subliminally revealing vocal stretches. Aggiflex blends elementary melodies wrapped in a sea of percussive fluctuations on “Canado.” Mysethe’s “3” paints a landscape of analogous rhythms until Damiak hits us again with his signature electrical distortions on “Fuk5.” Splendid.
But just as you thought Mysethe was done presenting their frequencies, all hell breaks loose on “Shtkt3.” An imploding bass-infestation collapses above a circuit of skittering tweaks. Why stop there? Proqxis’ reciprocates with haunted minimal fractures on “Eonid” as Aggiflex detoxifies on the brooding, cinematic scrapping of “Froxen.” Maredsous calms everything down, once again: “41_steps” casually investigates an uninterrupted universe of tranquil percussion as it slowly unfolds compressed melodies leading into Comute’s upbeat jazz-escape filled with organic sampling on “Inert.”
Perhaps the most infectious, emotional, and successful collaboration can be found on the closing track composed by Damiak & Aggiflex operating under the Comfort Food moniker. The enriched (female) vocal pitching and textured piano ambience buzzes across a clear sky on “Casiolove.” The warped backdrop of scratched bass-rhythms makes this cut an instant classic, hands down.
An explanation for the consistency on Ions may be the result of utilizing seven key Konstrukt players by blending 13 choice selections. And what a formula it is. The humble experimentally organic gems featured on Ions is a must-have release that will comfortably fit between your collection of titles from artists like Funkarma, Lexaunculpt and Gescom.
Ions is out now on Konstrukt. [Discogs]
