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'Airdrawndagger'
1. Dremples 1:23
A short burst of shimmering, bleepy, analogue soundscape clocking in at just
under a minute and a half. A warm-up to get your ears attuned.
2. Mr Tiddles 4:53
As with much of the album, 'Mr Tiddles' seems to pay tribute to an era in
the early Nineties when artists such as Spooky and The Drum Club were at
their peak. A cool, understated five minute introduction that unfurls with
all the production manners of Future Sound Of London circa 'Lifeforms', it's
bass-heavy with loads of delay, like a Germanic minimalist cathedral of
synthetic sound supplemented with massive, washing synth sounds.
3. Magnetic North 5:17
A bass pattern rises out of the darkness. A flurry of shuddering drums and
shifting, haunting keys. This is where things move subtly up a gear with a
glimmer of a nu-skool breaks rhythm track.
4. Cloud Cuckoo 8.26
A pure ethereal soundtrack with menacing keys is split by a tough West Coast
drum pattern with an up-front snare sound. More deep, brooding, bass-heavy
breakdowns with cascading synth patterns filtering down. Ends with a Jan
Hammer/Miami Vice-style drum stab and melts directly into. . .
5. Immortal 4:54
A brooding, buzzing nu-skool bassline underpins this downbeat slice of
breakbeat. Hovering around the 110 bpm mark, the track is covered in crisp,
cut-up hi-hats (sounding like high-pitched scratching) with a rising and
descending 'horror movie' hook line the creates a lot of tension. Includes
another rippling bass breakdown. Wouldn't sound amiss in a Meat Katie DJ
set.
6. Fundamental 9:13
Dark, robotic breakbeat atmospherics with a touch of the Timo Maas in the
bassline and lots of twisted filters. Morse code bleeps play in the upper
frequencies. Really kicks in round the six minute mark and rides the same
dark riff for a further three minutes. A Mixmaster Morris-ish take on
current fixations with all things electro.
7. Boileroom 7:04
A looped-backwards brassy sample cycles round before exploding into a
classic Sasha breakbeat - lots of space and contrast between pounding low
notes and trebly rhythm track. High bell notes play against twisted
electronic noises further down. A BT-style crescendo around the two minute
mark reminds of the days when Sasha used to cane 'Embracing The Sunshine'.
8. Bloodlock 7:53
The track that's most akin to 'Xpander'. A floor-shaking bass rumble growls
along as more synth arpeggios cascade down. A hi-hat pattern plays left and
right in the speakers and a marching pattern plays towards the end, rising
in frequency. Very Orbital-ish and something of an updated tribute to the
early sound of Sven Vath's Eye-Q imprint.
9. Requiem 6:08
Like incidental music from Bladerunner, this track betrays Sasha's love of
movie soundtrack dynamics and looks to Vangelis for epic inspiration. Heavy
delay cuts up an almost guitar-sound melody that descends into computer game
bleeps that in turn fade to echo.
10. Golden Arm 5:45
A cute melody cycles round before the 4/4 bass kicks in with a very 'Euro'
rhythm pattern. The bass and deep synth are linked in a rising and falling
cycle while echoing noises play beneath. The closest thing to a pop song on
the album.
11. Wavey Gravy 7:29
'Wavey Gravy' was previewed on Sasha's boat party at The Miami Winter Music
Conference and is the album's most obvious contender for first single. Like
Kevin Beber reworking one of Hybrid's more symphonic excursions, this
seven-minute cut is built on a strong rim-shot rhythm pattern. Evoking
images of sunshine falling through leaves, this is another track with a
touch of Vangelis about it, with a blissful, swooping synth melody that
plays to fade."
___________________
"Laces out Dan!"-Ray Finkle
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Sasha - Airdrawndagger
