Anders Ilar: Vidare
Further Records

Vidare is the sound of Swedish producer Anders Ilar emptying out his hard drive of previously unreleased material composed and produced between 2000 and 2010. Don't think for a moment that that means it's in any way throwaway—Ilar's far too solid a producer and polished a craftsperson for that. His virgin foray into the limited-edition cassette market gathers eighteen tracks of varying stylistic character into a more-than-credible collection.

“Mosaic” begins side A in early Tangerine Dream mode with mellotron-like washes engaging in blissful copulation before techno pulsations root the track in some big-city metropolis. Tracks blur into one another thereafter (exacerbated by a format that doesn't display indexing), making each side feel like a travelogue with multiple stopping points. Squelchy beats provide a downtempo sountrack to arcing washes in one setting, while a motorik funk pulse gets its bass-heavy groove on in another. Ilar sticks with that deep style for the remainder of side one—minimal funk never sounded so good—, bringing into its orbit lashing accents and galaxial atmosphere as he does so.

Aliens chatter amidst boombastic throb and synthetic showers in side B's swinging opener “Third Eruption” until the track recedes to allow the gently drifting ambient musings of “Things Never Said” to take over. Synthetic washes and bass patterns lull passengers into reverie as the shuttle makes its way toward the “Shores of Jupiter” after which he release takes a surprising turn when Jimmy Halvarsson adds a sober vocal and guitar playing to the winsome song “Anymore” before a sweetly melancholy dance track perks up the second side even more. Traces of krautrock, IDM, funk, techno, and house surface in varying combinations on this generous set issued by the Seattle-based Further label.

December 2010