| Hip-hop producer/electronica arranger Eliot Lipp isn’t your average techno-pop Presario; in fact, not much about his latest release The Outside is average. The music moves like liquid crystals undercoated by trams of downbeats. The thinking is progressive and the navigation of melodic lines is viscerally artistic, making tracks that tingle and sooth the senses, continually stirring up the mixtures and exploring a wide range of sonic possibilities. He fuses elements of urban, pop, R&B, and funk in the electronica pathways, producing an album that deepens his place in avant-techno music as he takes audiences on ethereal journeys that travels into other stratospheres. The album opens with the title track, erecting cables of bobbing horn-like tones resounding through the funky ethers of sprinting synths. Melodic lines and sound bites crisscross and form circular motions that create a trance like state. The downbeats of “Opening Ceremony” and “7 Mile Tunnel” are swamped in darkly toned synths. Lipp’s doodling and layering of sound waves amass a profusion of nomadic lines that never seem chaotic, but rather melodically imbued. The funky versing of “The Area” sits on a conveyor belt as the synth riffs repeat similarly to recycled club music, while the fluid versing of “Best Friend” has creamy sinewy lines foiled in soft R&B, bass-registered grooves. The contrasts are apparent and effectively executed to create the desired ambiance. The house beats of “Baby Tank” graze an even rhythmic jolt as the digital sound effects perforate the melodic channels, showing how Lipp applies workbook studied electronica to form the song’s skeleton and then combines it with an imaginative penmanship. The downbeat bulwark of “Beyond the City” is accentuated by glittering electronica, while the template of synth phrases in “See What It is About” are infused with funky-jazz notations. Lipp fluctuates between softly ambling electronica like in the mellifluous “It’s Time to Leave” against moody, oceanic tones and tight beats stocking “The Meaning.” The shortest piece “The Interlude” is a minuet of jungle like effects, while the ambient-techno hieroglyphics of “The Machine and the Wind” portray a picturesque scenery that feels like it is from another stratosphere. Eliot Lipp grew up in Tacoma, Washington but studied electronica music after moving to Chicago. From there, he moved to Los Angeles and put his studies into practice as a hip-hop producer. Eventually he made his way to Brooklyn, New York where he currently resides. The Outside is Lipp’s third full-length album. The tone of the album is progressive while being heavily influenced by urban-club, electro-funk, and R&B-jazz, elements which would cause discoloration in most music, but Lipp’s tracks are colored in complementing hues. It shows Lipp’s skill to handle diverse textures while demonstrating their agreeableness with the electronica medium. The album shows that Lipp knows what he is doing and knows how to produce the outcome he desires. - Absolute Punk |
