November 30, 2014 • Hacktivism Records
I love when this kind of music drops in my lap. There's just too much electronic music out there, and so many kinds, that I'm usually too overwhelmed to be good at finding something I like. Thankfully I got a hold of Ando Laj's EP Miriam Transmission and I'm hooked. It combines a kind of minimalist-IDM-slash-techno with a touch of ambient droning in a way that is just right, except for the fact that there simply isn't quite enough of it here.
On the whole, this EP has a bit of a pseudo-retro feel to it—it's not full-on vaporwave or anything, but it has a soft, floaty, atmosphere to it thanks to some dreamy synthesizers, cut-up sampling, soft static... Like twenty minutes after the rainstorm in Blade Runner clears up. I really like, for instance, the echoing industrial feel of the drums and low synth melody in "Convalescence"—very '90s throwback without actually feeling dated.
The atmospherics and texture are one of the release's strongest point. While the skittery beats and melodies are definitely great, the backing noises are exquisite. I'd probably say that my biggest complaint about this EP is that it just needs more of that delicious drone! Two- to five-minute track lengths don't feel long enough to really nail that aesthetic down and for me to get truly lost in the music. That said, it does complement the more heavy IDM stuff well, and I definitely appreciate that.
Anyway, it's obviously an EP worth listening to, and fortunately for me there's quite a bit more at the website to dig into. It looks like there's even a bit of long-form ambient stuff. Awesome.
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