^L_ – Outsider

Artist: ^L_
title: Outsider
format: vinyl
keywords: electronic, dance, techno, house, psychedelic, experimental
label: http://www.antime.de/

A certain ^L_ had created an interesting electronic album that speaks to the dance floor in various ways. It’s a fairly unique album as it is going for such a diversity that it almost feels as if the producer was in fact multiple people in one. In fact to my ears it came across more like a compilation by different artists that worked together to get a dance floor moving, yet it is all one and the same ^L_ .

^look it’s a Winking smiley face with added pimple..

It starts with the interesting ‘Phil Spector’. Phil Spector was the man with the gigantic microphone hairdo and a love for holding woman at gun point, oh and he was a producer, not sure if he still is; isn’t he in jail or something? Not sure why this is called Phil Spector, maybe it’s the inspiration for the work or perhaps just because why not? The music is (might be difficult) more interesting than the whole Phil Spectre drama, going for a mellow melody on repeat that sounds perfectly friendly on its own, but when a jungle-kind of beat pops in it actually prevails in being energetic and kind to all into psychedelics.

The track has nice effects, perfectly mixed with neat surprises clearly done by someone with equipment to fade in and out, sounding as something that isn’t all done with the help of a computer! Pretty hands on material which is pretty cool!
The next tune has a lengthy title and sounds like something that I had heard before, yet I can’t place where I had heard it before. Maybe it reminds me of a track on the Electrosexual remix album, maybe it’s just the sounds that remind me of my own experimentation in the groovy techno zones.

Maybe it’s just that it fits into the hidden key ingredients that you’ll need to make a techno tune a ‘tune’. Everything is simply making sense to my techno loving mind, all is at the right place, creating a rhythmic sensation that even though the obvious repetition has everything worked out that there is absolutely no second of boredom to be found here.

The programming is like the earlier tune very handsome, you could just imagine ^L_ working on this track frame by frame for the ultimate perfection. The tune sounds great and will make everyone into good pounding intelligent 4X4 dance music happily satisfied. The subtle insertion of percussion towards the end with the orgasmic feel of going to a rhythmic climax is definitely something a lot of crap producers could take notes from: perfection! It really fits the ^L_ facial expression for sure…

The ‘Outsider’ fills with a cliché sample of someone talking about a serious subject named suicide. After the message had expressed itself a collage of sampled voices are brought in. I can’t really say I understand it conceptual wise, what does this all mean? Why is it called ‘Outsider’ and why the suicide talk? I can’t really seem to link the two, but that’s good cause that means that it’s material that sets you to think, especially in the middle of a dance record. ^L_

Anyway… The album continues with ‘Locked-In Syndrome’ which actually seems to fit the intermezzo of the ‘outsider’ track. It begins quite dramatic, with sweet saddened guitar strings, croaky hiss and it feels as if the music is crying. But then a drum n base beat replaces the hiss and feels like an arm around the feeling of sadness & perhaps a slight kick in the ass to not be all too sad. It’s going for a dramatic melody all the way, but somehow the beat makes it all a bit more dreamy and of course danceable.

Next up is ‘Hello, I’m Richard Clayderman’. I don’t know who this is but I’m expecting it’s also a producer with a microphone haircut. What to expect music wise is a superbly produced sleek dance track in which everything is right and all is deep and good. There are the baselines, the feeling that multiple tracks are playing through each-other like a deejay mixing it’s mixes to entertain the masses in a slight adventurous way.

I say slight, as it’s clear that the music is easy to follow, hitting all the unwritten rules of how to get the perfect hypnotic electronic dance track with enough breaks and out of the blue stops and ‘goes’ that would probably drive a crowd on such dance floor ultimately nuts and kindly excited. I love how the tune gets more abrasive and raw in sound towards the end, yet again proving that the trolling look of ^L_ is a master of the climax in dance music.

Last is ‘Too weird to live, too high to die’ which has a prominent bouncing beat, more subtle lightweight voice samples to give a bit of a tropical vibe that nicely fits with the sweet percussion. It has a sweet organic breakdown in the middle before going for a punchier beat and more depth in the music sense of the word. There are neat drone tones to make the whole track level up a bit, and with this as lonely survivor the album ends in fabulous style. ^L_ will be remembered as the facial expression that will be pleased.

Conclusion? Pretty damn good! If you are in search for an electronic dance-orientated album that sucked; then please move along, but if not, feel free to check it out:
https://antime.bandcamp.com/album/l-the-outsider
<KN>