Ando Laj – Miriam Transmission

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.

Venetian Snares – My Love Is a Bulldozer

June 16, 2014 • Planet Mu Records

Finally, the breakcore master is back with his first new full album in four years. It may be my blind, raging adoration for Snares' music but I don't think his output has gone downhill at all like many people seem to think, and My Love Is a Bulldozer continues to keep things good.

The frantic 7/4 Amen-break chaos obviously hasn't gone anywhere, and the energy is solid as ever. Anyone who's heard a Snares album before pretty much knows what they're getting into with this one. It's not quite as dirty and raw as Filth and doesn't have the same silly aloofness that My So-Called Life showed (well, mostly, if you don't listen to the title track too closely). It's kind of a mashup of the crazy sample-heavy style of Detrimentalist with the pseudo-orchestral style of My Downfall—which is an awesome combination for me, at least.

There are a few interesting new things thrown in, such as the jazz style of "10th Circle of Winnipeg" and "Shaky Sometimes", a sort-of-dub thing in "Your Smiling Face", and the jaunty classical guitar of "8am Union Station", to name a couple examples. Still, I'm thankful for the occasional no-frills vanilla track like "She Runs" with just drums and electronics—pure Snares doing what he does best.

There's also a noticeable increase in the amount of vocals—and not just cut-up samples; I mean full-on written and performed by Funk himself for this album. Even though he's sung on his albums before, I can never really quite get used to it. With the classical and other softer stuff they're alright, if a little disconcerting (of course, that might be the idea). On the heavier breakcore tracks, they do their best to fit in with the music but it seems impossible to get them to ever click completely.

I don't know if My Love Is a Bulldozer is going to bring around anyone who has lost faith in Venetian Snares' recent output, but for me it's still an impressively good album and one definitely worth checking out. No, maybe it's not pushing any particularly new ground, and maybe it's still a bit too irreverent and a bit unfocused, but if you want something intense and surreal and maybe even a little thought-provoking, there's not much better you can do than some Snares.

Floex – Zorya

September 26, 2011 • Minority Records

Floex is Tomáš Dvořák, a musician I became very familiar with due to his incredible soundtrack for the game Machinarium, which was a masterpiece of modern electronic music. This album, released under his own name, is a bit more concrete and nu-jazz-oriented than the dreamy and ambient soundtrack material, but his signature style and fantastic songwriting is still all here, making one of the best electronic albums I've heard in a long time.

Zorya is not an easy album to describe; you have to hear some to really get what's going on. There's a highly unique mix of sounds presented here—most of the tracks have jittery, noisy IDM-style beats as the groundwork, but floating on top is a huge variety of instruments, ranging from piano to synths to chromatic percussion to live clarinet. Of course it's probably not the first time these sorts of arrangements have been put down, but I've never heard anything quite done the same way as here.

The amount of detail put into each track is incredible; sometimes it's hard to imagine this is the work of a single person. Most tracks strongly evoke various imagery for me, which I love. Take the entrancing 5/4 rhythm of "Casanova": the snappy drum groove draws you in, and then layers of clarinet and trumpet carry you along in a soaring, encompassing melodic collage, until you fly into the sun at the track's climax. Each song does that, more or less; I just want to sit and listen, entranced, forgetting that I'm supposed to be writing a review.

However I should say that the addition of vocals on a couple of tracks is an odd choice, one that I don't really think fits with Dvořák's style particularly well. They've grown on me a little bit, slowly, but I'm still not totally sold on them. For me, they distract from the music and just seem to get in the way (though those on "Nel Blu" work a bit better than "Precious Creature" as they're more ambient and integrated into the mix).

Regardless I still find this album fascinating, and a perfect followup to the Machinarium soundtrack—though Zorya is perhaps not quite as good as it, I'd highly encourage anybody who enjoyed one to seek out the other. And I can only hope Dvořák puts out anything nearly this good sometime soon.

8

Ephera – Ecstasy

January 1, 2013 • self-released

I'm always a bit hesitant to really get into amateur electronic music, because more often than not it's total garbage (too many kids in too many bedrooms thinking it's easy when it's not). But sometimes, as evidenced by my previous Ephera review and this one, there's gems to be had. The duo has progressed and matured a bit this time around, and the end result is all the better for it. Ecstasy is chock full of great beats and a great atmosphere not to be found in many other places.

Ephera's main draw hasn't changed a bit, its rainbow of electronic dance styles stripped down and fused together with the same trademark style on the debut. Though it takes cues from cold, clinical genres like dubstep, future garage, and the like, Ephera's sound is again warm and welcoming. The shimmering, hazy atmosphere punctuated by tick kick beats and quick hi hats, combined with video-game-like synth lines—often highly complex and still very melodic—it's all very well-composed. The sort of "space trap" style (similar to, but not the same as, cloud rap) is fairly unique and I really like what I'm hearing.

And while Home was a bit idiosyncratic and never could seem to settle on a style, Ecstasy is thankfully a bit more consistent in its textures and sounds, eking ever-closer to that magical point where an album is consistent without being too samey or too diverse. They're not quite there yet, but this is a big step up. It helps that many of the songs revolve around a specific hook or sample and build on that, anchoring them down and making the tracks a bit more memorable. It probably also helps that there's a personal association I get with a lot of the tracks—the opening to "Stigma" reminds me of Fuck Buttons, while the middle of "Paranoia" reminds me of a song from Earthbound (I think), just to name two. Pretty neat (but that's just me).

Anyway, this is a great sophomore effort and Ephera is on a great trajectory. Definitely a good listen for fans of more cerebral-yet-dancy electronic stuff (again, Clark comes to mind). Let's hope they can keep it up.

7

Ephera – Home

August 18, 2012 • self-released

As always, here I am trying to expand my horizons in the wide world of electronic music. Today's destination: Ephera, an Australian duo who have created a surprisingly diverse collection of sounds with Home. And, well, it's pretty nice; a little something for everyone.

Home puts on display a smorgasboard of different electronic styles—mostly IDM, but ranging to ambient droning, a bit of house, wonky, and future garage, among others. On every track you get something a little bit different, yet rgardless of style the album is still consistent and coherent. The abundance of melody helps quite a bit, and every track is driven by solid, upfront synth melodies that keep things moving along.

The production itself is pretty good; it has this spacey, glittery, yet still somewhat technical vibe to it that reminds me a lot of Clark (albeit a little slower and simpler). There's a huge variety of drum and synth voices in addition to some neat spoken word samples, so things stay relatively fresh throughout the album. Going from glitchy, cut-up, sampled IDM one track to slow, plodding brostep on the next can be a bit jarring, but that's still miles better than everything being totally monotonous.

However—and this is probably more of a personal thing—many of the tracks don't really have a lot of staying power with me. While the album is definitely solid throughout, there isn't much on the album that sticks out as being particularly memorable, especially in the middle of the album; rather, every track is simply "okay". I suppose after all it is a bedroom project and my expectations are a little off; for what it is, it really is pretty high quality.

I see a lot of potential in Ephera, and I hope the project continues on. It will be interesting to hear what happens as their musical ideas mature and grow.

6

Venetian Snares – Fool the Detector

March 5, 2012 • Timesig

Venetian Snares is keeping as prolific as usual—here's his second EP this year. I know plenty of people accuse him of going steeply downhill in the last few years, and I suppose I can sort of understand, but to me Fool the Detector is just as fine as the rest of his recent output. (Take that as a good or bad thing if you will.)

This has got to be some of the most complex electronic music I've heard lately, if nothing else. The music draws from all different realms of old Snares—there are dark atmospherics akin to My Downfall, rapid-fire glitches and cut-up melodies like heard on Huge Chrome Cylinder Box Unfolding. It's hard to say whether such complexity is a good thing—though it's worked in the past, to be sure—as often it can become too difficult to follow what's going on.

However, I am really enjoying the dancy pseudo-techno beat on "Index Pavilion". The straightforward kick beat complements the chaotic tune well and it'd be neat to hear more IDM-style stuff like this from Venetian Snares. "Fool the Detector" also shows that the magic is still there when it comes to string arrangements (as I mentioned above).

To any fan, Fool the Detector is definitely nothing new, and (like most Snares EPs) probably something to pass over. But it still has its merits; even though it's nothing extreme or unique or mind-blowing it's still okay. Personally I don't think it holds up to most of his other stuff but that doesn't mean it's not worth a casual listen.

6

Somatic Responses – Digital Darkness

February 8, 2008 • Hymen Records

Another foray into the deep, dark world of crazy electronic music: it's time for Somatic Responses, some sort of screaming electronic death machine that stabs my brain in the just the right spots. Okay, it's not a perfect brilliant album, but it's still the sort of dark dissonance I like.

Digital Darkness puts forth a style of music that (to me, so far) is pretty unique: it's incredibly heavy, and often incredibly complex, with beats that stagger madly back and forth between dark drum and bass to pounding power noise to breakcore and back again. It's difficult to call it a drum and bass album at all sometimes, as the music can get very dense and amelodic, but during other passages the beats can get quite danceable and awesome, and there is even a quiet breather track in "Neu". There are a lot of unique samples, drum kits, synth voices, and such going on, so the sound is pretty diverse from start to finish, although the consistently creepy-chaotic mood ties everything together quite nicely.

But of course, like too many electronic albums I've heard, it gets a bit too big for its britches and by the time the last couple of tracks roll around I've usually gotten tired of it. The fact that my ears have been mercilessly pounded for over an hour doesn't help things much, but at the same time I doubt that at-work-with-headphones is the ideal listening environment for this sort of music instead of some tweeked-out industrial club or something. (I don't go to clubs, okay?)

To be honest I'm a bit surprised that this album has received as much of a negative response as it has—aside from its length, I can't really find anything in it to complain about. Then again, perhaps it's grown on me; I have been listening to it quite a bit, and it already goes along nicely with all the other deranged electronic music I like. So take that as you will.

6

dB Soundworks – The Binding of Isaac

September 28, 2011 • self-released

Since I picked up the game a few months ago I've sunk almost a hundred hours into The Binding of Isaac, a rogulike-action-RPG-twin-stick-shooter sort of game. Its short playstyle and huge depth makes it incredibly addictive and fun. Not to mention, of course, that it has a pretty slick soundtrack as well; admittedly lately I've been playing with the music off and listening to something else since, well, a hundred hours of the same music can get repetitive. But that's not to say it's bad!

On the contrary—its music is very well-crafted, mostly a sort of classical-electronic fusion (similar to db Soundworks' other) with sweeping, doom-laden string ensembles and choirs, backing some ambient yet melodic synthwork. As far as soundtracks go, it's pretty standard fare; these sorts of arrangements wouldn't be out of place in your average sci-fi or drama film, except for the nice IDM-like beats integrated into the mix. See "Divine Combat" for a perfect example—the dark strings combined with the frantic glitchy beats and infectious melody clicks amazingly well. Or "Dreadful"'s incredibly tense, Jaws-like strings and ambient house beats. There are also more dreamy pieces like the ambient "Peace Be With You", offering a nice contrast to the tension of other tracks.

One thing I'm not a huge fan of, though, is that there's a bit less variety in this seventy-two minute album than I would like. Many of the songs are remixes or variations on melodies in earlier tracks—take the tune "$4cR1f1c14|_", a chiptune remix of "Sacrificial", or "Greed", an easy-listening version of the same. In the game, these tracks' inclusions are justified—they are played in the arcade and shop respectively—but on the album they should have been no more than trivial bonus tracks, not central tracks (and certainly not five minutes, in "$4cR1f1c14|_"'s case).

It's hard to fault the soundtrack for that, though, since the tracks are so well-composed that it's impossible to dislike it. The way the electronic synths and beats are combined with the classical music is simply perfect—not to mention that the classical bits, on their own, are still pretty amazing and sound absolutely fantastic. Also worth mentioning is the awesome tech house remix of many of the main themes by Big Giant Circles, one of my favorite tracks on the album. So yeah; it's definitely one of the better game soundtracks I've heard lately. I could be biased from hearing it so much but I'd say it's definitely worth a listen.

7

Cex – Role Model

August 2000 • Tigerbeat6

I can't claim to be anywhere near an aficionado of electronic music (despite reviewing a lot of it lately), so sometimes I have to admit when I've been bested by an album. When I first listened to Cex back in 2008, I hated this album. I can't say why—probably because I wasn't much into electronic music then—but today I can say that I've changed my mind, and I have to give Role Model some credit.

This probably has to do somewhat with my newfound appreciation for Aphex Twin, an artist by whom this album sounds like it could have been influenced. Like a lot of Aphex Twin's material, Role Model is a slightly mixed bag but consists of mostly relaxed IDM. It's very rhythmic music, but is also full of melodies bouncing off one another on some tracks, and heavy glitches on others. The result is a very pleasing, though light, dancy sound. There is a really nice mix of textures and sounds on each track too, keeping things interesting and preventing the album from getting stale: some noise samples, lots of different synth voices, things like that.

I do with the album was a bit more cohesive; the IDM bits don't jive as well with the glitch bits and the album feels like a very randomized collection of individual tracks rather than a full, well-defined album. I'm not going to say that's necessarily a bad thing—it's not a good thing, but in this case I feel like it's easy to overlook because there aren't many weak tracks and there is a fair bit of segueing to help glue things together.

I'm glad I decided to give Role Model another shot, because it really is worth it if IDM is your thing. Sure, it may not be as good as the Aphex Twin albums it reminds me of, but that's not really fair anyway. It stands pretty well on its own and is worthy of a few listens.

6

Venetian Snares – Cubist Reggae

May 23, 2011 • Planet Mu Records

Something easy to start off with.

You have to admire Aaron Funk not only for his position as one of the most prolific and successful breakcore artists but also for being as diverse as he is. As the title suggests, this cute little EP has nothing to do with breakcore and has more of a glitched-up dub sound. Or is it a dubbed-up glitch sound? It's hard to say, since the styles fuse together pretty well. We also hear a bit of that classical fusion from Rossz in one or two tracks and, again, it doesn't seem out of place.

However I must admit that I find the songwriting itself to be a bit lackluster. We don't usually hear a lot of slow Snares and I don't think it's something he's quite accustomed to yet. So I suppose I'm glad this is just an EP—this would never have worked as a full-length album; it would probably come off even more uninteresting than Huge Chrome Cylinder Box Unfolding, although the tracks presented here are all pretty different: some broken beat, some dub, a bit of regular old breakcore... he almost reaches into Aphex Twin territory at times too, which is unusual but neat. I am glad he made this EP, EPs are excellent for experimenting with your sound and seeing what different things you can do, and that's usually what he does; I'd call this one a mild success, but not quite interesting enough to warrant more than one or two listens.

6