Articles
Slow Six
Label Profile: Fällt
Alexander Turnquist

Albums
4 Bonjour's Parties
AGF
Atlas Sound
Autistic Daughters
Baja
Evan Bartholomew
Sylvain Chauveau
Destroyalldreamers
DoF
Dot Tape Dot
Fessenden
Floriana vs. Màcro
Florian Hecker
I Am A Vowel
Jaermulk Manhattan
Steve Jansen
LabField
Liar's Rosebush
Eliot Lipp
Luminous
Mojib
Monocle
Nicolay & Kay
Panda Riot
Ghislain Poirier
Prosumer & Murat Tepeli
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Sambassadeur
Starting Teeth
Carl Stone
Strings of Consciousness
Suite Crude Revue
Text Adventure
Alexander Turnquist
Valet
Viirus
Willits + Sakamoto
Yaporigami

Compilations/Mixes
Armin Van Buuren
Caroline
Goodbye Said the Rain
Sieben Mal Solo
A Weevil in a Biscuit

3"/ 7"/ 10"/ 12"/ EPs
0>1
A Setting Sun
The Bug ft. Warrior Queen
Myungho Choi
Deadbeat
Entsounds
Itosha
JDSY
l'Objet
Noah Pred
Repair
The Retail Sectors
Socks & Sandals
Someone Else
Trembling Blue Stars
.xtrak

Eliot Lipp: The Outside
Mush

On The Outside, Eliot Lipp's Mush Records debut and his sequel to last year's fabulous Tacoma Mockingbird, his signature beats-and-synths template remains firmly rooted in place, though Lipp occasionally spices up his analog-infused electro-funk sound with additional instrumentation (piano, guitar) and samples, field recording (crowd noises, traffic sounds) and otherwise (an ululating choir in “7 Mile Tunnel”). Lipp's fanatical dedication to production detail is clearly evident when handclaps punctuate crisp hip-hop-flavoured drum breaks and gleaming analogue synth melodies. He wisely spins endless variations on the template by tackling a range of genre styles over the course of the album: compare, for example, the bleepy, old-school hip-hop of “Baby Tank” to the surging flow of “The Meaning” and the contemplative (and beatless) closer “It's Time to Leave.” The beautifully funky title track sets the mood with multi-layers of synth melodies wailing over a wiry hip-hop pulse, and chicken-scratch guitar syncopations and an elegant piano theme sweetly stir the hot-wired pot in the standout “The Area.” Lipp also builds a delectably slow and tight groove in “Best Friends” from double-time hi-hat patterns and a snaking bass line.

In terms of execution and production, The Outside is certainly Tacoma Mockingbird's equal though, overall, the songwriting may not be quite at the same high level (nothing on The Outside is a match for the earlier set's "Rap Tight" though "The Outside" and "The Area" come close), and there are moments when Lipp pushes the style to too great an extreme: the lead melody in “See What It's About,” for instance, is voiced by a Moog that sounds so cheesy even Keith Emerson might have passed on it. All things considered, though, The Outside is a more than solid complement to its precursor, so much so that one could reasonably regard it as Tacoma Mockingbird II.

February 2008