CacheFlowe: Automate Everything
Nobot

Automate Everything is an altogether solid sampling of bleepy instrumental boom-bap (or, as its creator, Colorado-based Justin Gitlin aka CacheFlowe, describes it, “post-hop breakbeat electronica”) with blunted beats stuttering, slamming, and lurching through sixteen meticulously crafted constructions. Every restless track teems with detail so listening interest never wanes for a second, but his heady, free-flowing mix of dub, drum & bass, soul, acid, hip hop, and funk would be more effective if it settled into place for a moment or two longer, rather than ceaselessly shape-shifting (the writhing “Patch It” a typical example). The cuts' simmering surfaces rarely congeal into permanent form, making it difficult for the listener to get a handle on the identity of a given song. Still, Gitlin's CacheFlowe debut impresses on many counts. Dive-bombing synth melodies, bass blips, snare detonations, and strangulated noises hold one's attention throughout “Freq Lovely” while acid and jungle collide in the dubbed-out “Pinnacle 1421.” Interestingly, the album's most successful pieces are the remixes (George&Caplin's “Headed Home,” Dojo's “Malfunction Disorder,” Timestream's “Raining In Paradise”), precisely for the reason that CacheFlowe imposes his unique fingerprint upon them while leaving their centers intact (the same goes for Sean Byrd's fine overhaul of “Mel Gibson Returns”).

March 2006