Offering an onslaught of multi-dimensional electronics and not always sticking with one. Perhaps this is the intent with the focus of a “sampler” being a virtual buffet of audio delicacies.
[Listen | Download] Architects + Heroes have just rolled-out Volume 1, a compilation sampler offering an onslaught of multi-dimensional electronics and not always sticking with one. Perhaps this was the intent; the focus of a “sampler” being a virtual buffet of audio delicacies. Some of the platters display more in terms of unique styles that dive straight into synth-noise, bass-tinged IDM, post-shoegaze pop and a few click-hop extracts. With many labels seeking to present their own sound, A+H pulse’s with a hybrid of fuzzy music and doesn’t appear to be missing any talent. Let’s hope that this newly established imprint can keep the torch lit long enough for larger audiences to consume; with the wide bass lines and crunched percussion exuding from Zygote and DJ Stephen R’s machines (operated by the same fingers), let’s hope their roster continues to successfully cross over into new ground with their respective future releases as listed on their website. The artists herein have used various alias’ to motivate the art of crafting music under a new skin; the results are unique in that each piece sparkles with its own specific ingredients without sounding like a duplicated effort.
Quiliuq’s “Ventana,” with its scribbling and erratic electric beats, shakes and rattles off the charts and is an experimental Oval-esque gem. The same artist offers “Subliminal;” a dub-tech alteration, spotlighting a 4×4 beat with abstract fiddling and analog synth lines. Elsewhere, vocal cuts slice through textured hip-hop extracts as featured on Business 80’s “Mad At Nothing” and “This Place Where We Used To Play,” although the latter has more of a Broadcast versus The Cure inspired style that really offsets the musical consistency of V1. Asymmetrical Head’s “Forward Lateral” slides across a kaleidoscope of washed and lost frequencies while the Lucid Rhythms remix changes the tempo with heavily drenched bass and a warm digital breeze that is highly contagious and a definitive go-to track. DJ Stephen R’s de-tuned “Bumped” expels layers of acidic construction and slowly manifests its brooding rhythm with a punctuated beat exploding from every corner; Zygote’s “Dracula Variations” delivers a similar outcome while his opening track, “Double OC,” leaks shattered and uplifting melodies that gracefully unfolds sympathetic vibrations. Burbank International’s contributions are varied, to say the least; imagine Clark stripped down with a dosage of Tobias Lilja and/or Genaro and a more accessible experimental-pop groove that steers this sampler in a whole other direction. The Summer of Flux’s emotively blazing “Rad Math” is a batch full of bass guitars and reverse engineered electronica yielding nothing short of casual mood listening.
In closing, A+H have summed up a chilled sampler running through a musical marathon of genres while managing to keep itself firmly planted beneath the surface. The sporadic vocals that pepper this compilation are a welcomed addition as they change the pace and fluidity next to their counterparts. These talented experimentalists will get the chance to unpack their arsenal with the upcoming 2011 A+H release schedule; definitely something to look out for. This sampler, on the other hand, only teases the listener in anticipation of what’s next; which was perhaps the initiative. If so, the A+H collective have succeeded as audio architects and heroes of abstract electronics.
Sampler Vol. 1 is out now on Architects + Heroes. [Listen | Download]
