Articles
2007 Ten Favourite Labels
Backtracking Greg Davis
Shackleton Interview

Albums
John Luther Adams
Joseph Auer
Commix
Dartriix
Floratone
Furniture
Shuta Hasunuma
Richard Hawley
Hologram
Icarus
Kiln
Kobol
Labradford
Last Days
M83
Mai
Darren McClure
Near the Parenthesis
David Newlyn
Objekt4
OK Ikumi
Ontayso
Wendel Patrick
Phon°noir
Pocahaunted / Robedoor
Poostosh
Prefuse 73
Quosp
Rapoon
The Retail Sectors
Skull Disco
Socos
Supersilent
Tigrics
Trentemøller
Zuydervelt / Baars / Veld.

Compilations/Mixes
Airport Symphony
Devil in the Detail
Dinky
EXPANSION | contraction
Funckarma
Little Darla v. 25
One Five Zero
Playgroup / Alter Ego
Signal Path
Soul Jazz Singles
U-cover Mix 03 [IDM]
Ricardo Villalobos
We Are All Cotton-Hearted
Well Deep

3"/ 7"/ 10"/ 12"/ EPs
Basic Unit
Bodycode
Kit Clayton & Sutekh
Dartriix
Ditch
INKlings
Insanic4
Lackluster
Najem Sworb
Ontayso
Sutekh
The Tamborines
Telafonica
Zainetica

Tigrics: Synki
Highpoint Lowlife

Tigrics ( Budapest, Hungary native Róbert Bereznyei) makes an auspicious debut with nine ear-bending pieces on his full-length debut Synki. The collection is a stylistically shape-shifting creature that variously tilts in the direction of IDM, field recordings-based soundscaping, and drones, but also includes moments of jazz, hip-hop, and funk too. An air of open-minded, even loony, experimentalism pervades the material, whether it's a vignette like the forty-eight-second “te” or long-form, episodic settings such as the twenty-two minute “ja'tzkin” or fifteen-minute “synki & bug.” Synki cuts a wide swathe, from bizarre sound experiments (“te” suggests either the processed growl of an animal or the opening of a hollowed-out stone) to more conventional electronic pieces (“sivárvány,” an exercise in glistening placidity, and “coming thru,” which moves from squiggly IDM to twilight ambient before finally taking a loopy stroll down the bird-infested midway). Powered by rhythms rooted in hip-hop and funk, “203 mibajodvan” unspools in a way that wouldn't sound out of place on a typical Merck release, while “igric” might be described as psychedelic sound-sculpting augmented by jazzy cymbal patterning.

The most noteworthy pieces are the longer ones, such as the ten-minute “enable,” which is dominated by a shimmering organ drone in the first half and hot-wired beat squelch in the second. But clearly the most striking piece is the marvelous “ja'tzkin.” A veritable universe of field noises—stone scrapings, hydraulic creaks, geological clatter, swishes—abstracts itself into alien form throughout, with some of it often mutating into swelling loops. One might expect attention to lapse over such a lengthy duration but not in this case. Bereznyei keeps the level of invention high and hypnotic throughout, with the soundscape maintaining its rhythmic momentum despite the incredible variety of sounds that constantly reconfigures it. Halfway through, we find ourselves in the middle of a busy Persian marketplace before encountering the deranged performance of an organist at an outdoor park. More lunacy arrives near the end in the form of an unhinged electronics demonstration accompanied by percussive pops. Auspicious indeed.

December 2007