| Given he does time as one third of Twisted Nerve-issued post-post-rockers DOT, it's little surprise that James Rutledge's outings as Pedro - each issued after long periods of gestation - are afloat on all that sentimental-electro prettiness that such marching-of-genre has bled into; Pedro following DOT like Four Tet has followed Fridge. Making his pastoral electro gear, Rutledge faintly echoes those most beholden soundtrackists of recent days - Shadow, Boards Of Canada, Aphex Twin's Ambient Works, etc - whilst pushing his load down more personal weed-strewn paths whose cracked tiles symbolise a "hand-made" spirit; it no surprise that the Pastels and their Geographic label have long been admirers (and occasional collaborateurs) of the blurry emo emotions of Pedro records. Rutledge mightn't go the whole wonky/old-timey distance his mates Dave Tyack and Nick Palmer do as Dakota Oak and Directorsound, but there's a hazy pseudo-naturalist nature that he wilfully cultivates, even when his cuts are the most crystalline arrangements of super-pretty tuned-percussion/digital-flickering. Four years after his first single marked the first missive for Melodic, Rutledge has finally brought together his premiere longplayer. Caking muted breaks in all manner of strewn sound - synth squleches, orchestral samples, Reichian malletting, Herrenesque vocal-cuts, dub'd-out bass, one-finger piano fumbling, acoustic guitar twangs - this Pedro album is as sophisticated as it is nice, establishing a firm place in the oft-derided world of post-Four Tet-type "folktronica" with its quality control and body control and such. - Gravity Girl |
![MH-240 Pedro - Pedro [2006 Edition]](/album_art_front/MH240_F.jpg)
1XLP/Out Of Print