Review: There's throbbing bass aplenty on the menu when Paul Lawrence and Andy Garrett get together with this EP for Four40, which finds the pair fusing techno atmospherics with rude garage styles to create a potent floor-filling blend. "Apocalypse" works around a snappy breakbeat pattern which buffets along the heavy-wobbling b-lines, while "Fire" is a more devoutly swung and shuffling stepper to inspire a wealth of uptempo gyrating, aided and abetted by choice vocal licks and tripped-out breakdown sections. There's no let up for "War Cry" either with its own blend of tight drums and gut-busting low end honed for the hottest part of the night.
Review: AIDOL is the soundtrack to a work by London-based Chinese-Malay visual artist and musician Lawrence Lek. The film, featuring Hyperdub founder Kode9 as an 'unforgiving label boss,' plays on futuristic, neon pop and megacity themes of EDM superstardom alongside visions of China's global ascent, artificial intelligence and technology. Said to be a continuation of Lek's 'sinofuturist' universe, everything from Akira inspirations and Aldous Huxley references ("Welcome To SoMA") to the sonority of The Knife's music (in "Call Of Beauty (ESports Reprise))" can be felt here, with the added touch of the main character's voice, Diva, created with a vocaloid vocal synthesizer. With spoken word collaborations from Sophie Guo, Xiaoyi Nie, Xiaoran Wu and Joni Zhu adding to Lek's story of a 'fading superstar' who hires an AI songwriter for a comeback performance, tracks also feature Seth Scott who's worked with Lek in the past, of note 2017's Geomancer. More than a ghost in the machine. 5 stars.
We use cookies to personalise content and ads, to provide social media features and to analyse our traffic. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners who may combine it with other information that you've provided to them or that they've collected from your use of their services.