Tag: 2011

Various Artists – [unclassified] [2011; [adult swim]]

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Eighteen tracks of steady-beat techno, leaning into downtempo pacing while layering touches in all over the place.  Bass commands most of the songs, while the higher-pitched inclusions tend to be dragged over the top in fragile-sounding ways.  The points of acceleration that do crop up feel, for the most part, like they’re just dressing on the slow-moving bass bump loops, which lends a sense of hard separation between the two ends.  There’s plenty of technical skill and careful programming on display, but very few of the songs feel like they actually do much of anything beyond following the loops through some light ramping.  A nice snapshot of electronic groups just under the mainstream radar at the time of its release, and some generally chill beat atmospheres, but not much more than that.

Stardust Output – Fascinate [2011; Stellar Transmission Studios]

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Modern electro house with drips of white hip-hop via Anni Philo’s vocals, this album in Stardust Output’s expansive (but hard to find) catalog is as spangly as its cover art suggests, with thick layers of synth activity draped over each other’s spurts and warbles.  Laid-back beats and slow-warp drones give the music a relaxed atmosphere even when the percussion is bustling along, and the confident flow of the lyrics makes for an odd but effective match with their spacy themes. 

Flashes of chiptune-styled bass bumps and clicky arpeggios slip in some playfulness to the cool drive, and the inclusion of a live performance of one of the earlier tracks at the end gives some sense of how the material mutated outside of the studio.  Enjoyably eclectic, though the decision to trim down later editions of the album from twelve to a more digestible eight tracks is understandable given the hour-plus length of the original.