Category: electronic

malakai – breathing room

Malakai’s first release since 2020’s ‘Axiome’ sees the producer in a strong rhythmic form. There is a purpose and direction to the intricate instrumental anatomy on display, as its creator rests classic elements of IDM on a hammock of heavy dub. ‘Breathing Room’ is meticulous and ambitious, but not extraordinary in its palette—the satisfaction comes […]

15/30 ambient electronic synth techno

benoit b – kismet

‘Kismet’ is the follow-up to 2020’s glossy Notes of Love EP. It renews the project’s supernatural cult TV show impression, but operates at a lighter tempo. Benoit B is capable of producing tremendously lush sounds—much less capable, it seems, at herding them in gratifying ways across an LP. Much of ‘Kismet’ could be a soundtrack, […]

28/30 baile electronic experimental hip-hop revisited review

m.i.a – arular

In her early life, Maya Arulpragasam lived through a series of tense displacements owing to her father’s Tamil political activism. The title of her debut is his code name. M.I.A’s unfiltered lyrics, her explosive use of the drum machine and the overarching guerilla themes are so organic that this album immediately becomes the soundtrack to […]

27/30 electronic experimental funk revisited review

william onyeabor – who is william onyeabor? (2013)

Post author By Seth Rice
Post date February 12, 2022
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Cinematography student in Russia? Flour mill businessman? Born-again Christian and denouncer of his own music? Record-manufacturer? Who indeed was William Onyeabor? This 2013 compilation bearing the greatest works of the elusive Nigerian funk musician provides dense rhythm and wild electronic flails as parts to an answer. The lyrics contain scattered thoughts on war, the afterlife, […]

22/30 breakcore electronic

TOKYOPILL – serial experiments PAIN

Post author By Seth Rice
Post date February 3, 2022
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In a musical game of Risk, ambient music would be conquering nations with a silent plague rather than ground troops: was it our incessant need to unwind that caused the heaviest genres to be this meditative? For all its noise, this EP is not keen on dancing. It asks, reasonably, for an attentive listen to […]

26/30 electronic pop revisited review

everything but the girl – walking wounded (1996)

Post author By Seth Rice
Post date January 30, 2022
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EBTG’s ninth album crystalises love and retention in eleven tracks of drum and bass, trip-hop, and pop. Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt had one eye each on the nightclub, seemingly writing and producing with remix vultures in mind. The result is a straight, booming vignette of 90s evening-life. Thorn evokes the casual sadness of a […]

27/30 electronic experimental indie/alternative revisited review

dean blunt – black metal (2014)

Post author By Seth Rice
Post date January 23, 2022
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This is a beloved album. Partly due to the release of its younger brother in June 2021, ‘Black Metal’ has enjoyed a thorough artistic renaissance, rousing a renewed appreciation for Dean Blunt’s idiosyncratic method. This record manages to be pathologically honest in its message, but layered and innumerable with its atmospheric devices; the strings throughout […]