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Skipsapiens: Eco Skipsapiens, originating out of Santiago de Chile and formed in 1999 by Daniel Nieto and Pier Bucci, couples an inviting analog warmth with the cerebral textures of Berlin-based groups like Monolake on the hour-long Eco (in fact, Skipsapiens' sound design so closely resembles Monolake's on “Macrosecuántico”—common software the reason, presumably—you'd be hard pressed to differentiate between them). Like its esteemed counterpart, Skipsapiens' music exudes a polished sheen with its most characteristic feature perpetual animation; throughout the album's eleven tracks, the chilled cool of languid pulses contrasts with a nonstop chatter of machine blips, bleeps, surges, and smears. While Nieto and Bucci make credible forays into burbling digi-dub (“Doctor Silla”), synth-based funk (“Compresión Infinitesimal”), becalmed melodic electronica (“Dilatación Neuronal”), and hazy soundscaping (“Mucha Latencia”), their sound is often so refined it verges on polite; in other words, a little more fury and sweat wouldn't be unwelcome. Harder-hitting material like “Virus en la Red” suggests how potent Skipsapiens' music can be when it's a little less well-behaved. July 2005 |
