ALBUMSREVIEWS
Lusine
The Waiting Room Ghostly International
9.0
Lusine in the sky with diamonds
TEXAN Jeff McIlwain has been around the block a few times but — even with three albums for Ghostly and efforts for Isophlux, U-Cover and Hymen under his belt — his reputation barely transcends the inner confines of electronic music geekery. Hard to understand, considering the quality of his back catalogue, covering nine albums and spanning over 13 years.
One explanation is that he’s always been one step ahead — his styles straying so far from the fold they fly over the heads of others playing catch up. 2003’s ‘Push EP’ might fall into sync with the ambient artistry of AFX, but there’s a percussive skip and an
underbelly of sub bass not far off Falty DL or Braiden at the turn of the next decade.
Released originally in 2008, ‘Slapback’ is wonky minimal that’s more Delsin than Dubfire, folding out into broken, heliocentric angles supported by a dark Detroit aesthetic later inherited by bass processors such as Untold, Boddika and eventually Blawan. Then, there’s his last LP ‘A Certain Distance’, gleaming with a coffee table pop/dance sensibility that — were it released now — would give TEED a run for his money. If anything, Lusine has been too far ahead over the years; a victim of his own prophetic vision — “too future”, DJ Shadow would say.
On this, however, Lusine is bang on the money, reining in the avant-garde so it meets the more accessible. Opener ‘Panoramic’ is an epic landscape of tumbling synthetics; ‘Get The Message’ is Ladytron for the post-2010 hipster generation, ‘On Telegraph’ is the syrupy house bounce of Morgan Geist on kissing terms with Little Dragon, while ‘Another Tomorrow’ — an androgynous electro-emo- pop ballad sung by a cyborg, part Junior Boys, part Björk — is closer to ‘Aidy’s Girl Is A Computer’ than Amon Tobin. More likely to propel him to stratospheric levels than anything before, ‘The Waiting Room’ is timeless, idiosyncratic
pop.Adam Saville
9.0
Pantha Du Prince & The Bell Laboratory Element Of Light Rough Trade Hendrick’s in heaven
By now Hendrick Webber’s impressive sonic fingerprint is known the world over. His chilly, bell-laden techno sound manages to sound both earthy and organic yet churchy and celestial, with all three LPs in his back catalogue standout efforts. The German’s fourth is his most ambitious, though, and sees him work with a three-tonne instrument comprising 50 bronze bells: surely his idea of heaven. The results suggest that, too, immediately transporting you to some frosted and hymnal hide-away that chimes and echoes without end. You feel suspended in the middle of it all as the symphonies grow and glow around you, intricate tinkles placed front and centre, larger, more lingering bell sounds hanging around in the background and underlapping kick drums propelling each one along at varying tempos. A truly beautiful album perfectly suited to this time of year. Kristan Caryl
054
djmag.com
8.0
Marc Romboy & Ken Ishii Taiyo Systematic Recordings Soundscape techno
In teaming up with Japanese techno legend Ken Ishii, Systematic boss Marc Romboy seems to have been encouraged to explore his deeper, more intricate and underground techno side. ‘Taiyo’ (Japanese for ‘Sun’) is an album rich with widescreen vistas and cinematic detail, where your head is as involved in the listening experience as your heel. Or as the PR succinctly puts it, “West meets east, atmosphere meets groove-ridden precision”. Tracks like ‘Seiun’ manage to spiral off to an infinite horizon with fizzing electronics, frazzled synths and plenty of metallic surfaces pushing and pulling in many directions at once, whilst ‘Helium’ is more introverted, coming over like a frosty Alpine comedown rich with sparkly icicles and tinkling glass. The highlight might just be the swaggering deep techno of the title track, where warm beats get sliced up by searing pads and keep you suspended in nebulous clouds of synthetic sound. Kristan Caryl
Lee Gamble Dutch Tvashar Plumes PAN Worth a punt
As much as PAN has been one of the most talked about labels this year, their hugely esoteric output is clearly not for everyone. Neither will be Lee Gamble’s latest full-length, ‘Dutch Tvashar Plumes’, which is a dark and depraved journey through fucked-up sound design, extended sonic sketches à la Actress in ‘RIP’ mode and challenging passages of atypical beat work. Gamble has a long history in electronic music, first with jungle, then through more academic sonic experimentation, and both aspects of his character shine through here. Sort of: when the beats do come, they are faint rubbings buried deep in the mix, mere suggestions of rhythm and groove caked in hiss and static, synthesised fragments and digi-dust with alien melodies bleeding in from all directions. It’s certainly a non-linear, non-standard journey, and one that really does reward if you stick with it. Kristan Caryl
9.0
9.0
Wraetlic Wraetlic Convex Industries Smoke gets in your eyes
After a hiatus from writing and producing, Soma-affiliated experimental techno producer Alex Smoke returns as Wraetlic, sporting a very different mask. Though Smoke’s innovative tendencies have always bubbled through his excellent back catalogue, Wraetlic sees the producer delving into more thoughtful, darker territory than ever before. His remixing for Depeche Mode seems to have filtered through into ‘Wraetlic’, albeit in a far more tortured form (ditto his Steve Reich mixes); post-industrial synth passages, shattered techno fragments, dubstep whispers and twitchy electronica remnants all nervously rear up before fleeing, while frosty electro and Smoke’s pained, processed vocals collide to create a beautiful, mangled tapestry. ‘Wraetlic’ is like handling a weird, fragile jewel in pitch black. You can’t really tell what it’s made from, but you know beyond doubt that it’s valuable, and you won’t be able to part with it. Tristan Parker
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