This is an awesome album. Yes, I can safely say that all Merck fans should really dig this one. Don’t let the weird french singing in the first track throw you off, its about to get riggedy ruff.
It progresses really nicely through lush beaty material overlaid perfectly with soundscapes, delicious deru percussion, and the melodies that gets in many-a-merck fans heads. This is the kind of stuff that I hoped to release in my Merck days. Heavy on the beats and bass, stuff I can’t stop nodding my head to. He combines the best of Autechre and Dj Premier, in a subtle, seamless, and original way. There aren’t any standout tracks for me to point to initially, because the whole thing is strong, its screaming for a straight through listen, no angst to ffwd a track, or repeatedly backtrack, it flows excellently. Its got a good strong start with a few block-knocker tracks then it slows down a little into Walk and Fadeaway, which remind me of Carter Burwell stuff (his soundtrack to In Bruges). I’m guessing maybe he was listening to some of his stuff around the time of making this, just like you can hear in a few of Proem’s tracks when he had started to listen really heavily to Thomas Newman stuff (his Tiki Obmar remix in particular). Nonetheless, it continues on to finish off with 2 ambient pieces, and sandwiched in between them is Cottonmouth Lothario, with its excellent midway breakdown. Ok, I’ll stop hyping, if you didn’t catch this one already, please do, cheers to Ben & Mush, this kind of music belongs on the label that Aesop Rock started off on. Futuristic hip-hop indeed. - Merck Fragments |
