In the great Rephlex tradition of sensational collaboration,
following Luke Vibert
and Jeremy Simmonds, with Weirs, in 1993, Mike
(Paradinas) and Rich
(D. James), with Expert Knob Twiddlers,
a few years alter, and Mike Dred and Peter Green in
1998 with the utterly essential Virtual Farmer
comes this project from Cylob’s
Chris Jeff and Astrobotnia/Ovuca
mastermind Aleksi Perala.
Chris Jeff is very much part of the furniture at Braindance
Central. From his first outputs ten years ago as Kinesthesia,
which culminated in the Empathy Box album released
two years later, to his more recent work as Cylob,
Jeff has explored a variety of sonic landscapes, from
techno to electro pop and blissful ambient. A relative
new addition to the Rephlex roaster in comparison, Finnish
Aleksi Perala has also proved a master at transcending
genres, going from mashed up drill’n’bass
on his first Ovuca album to beautiful dreamy sequences
on his more recent Astrobotnia
project. That the two decided to work together is therefore
not a surprise, and the result is everything as good
as one would expect. The pair decided to collaborate
with each other during a two-week tour of America last
year. After months spent swapping files over the Internet,
Cylobotnia is finally seeing the light, confirming
the rumours that have been going round for some time.
Combining the musical universe of these two musicians,
this album abounds in playfully creative moments spread
over a mere eight tracks in just over half an hour.
The conscientious pile up of sonic details acts as a
catalyst for the pair’s joyful displays. Constantly
changing focus, these eight tracks are incredibly complex
in form, yet Jeff and Perala manage to retain the energetic
aspect of their music all the way through. As melodies
twist and turn and beats stumble across scattered noises
only to rush back up with more aplomb, the pair pertinently
shoot sonic bullets at each other, raising the stakes
with every new dare as they incorporate elements of
techno, acid, ambient and fucked up electronica to present
a truly original record.
Totally irreverent and pertinent, this collaboration
is the musical equivalent of a terribly un-politically
correct joke. Joyful pranksters, Chris Jeff and Aleksi
Perala do their utmost to offer the unexpected, and
they succeed at almost every stage.
4.5/5 |
