Veröffentlicht
Mar 17, 2016Veröffentlicht
February 2016
- PAN tends to favor a certain aesthetic. It's all about the textures, sounding like futuristic data flows generated by complex algorithms. The rhythms, too, are continually re-routed to the brink of abstraction. These techniques are a big part of the cybernetic sound that ties together producers like Arca, Holly Herndon, Lotic and M.E.S.H., though each has their own ways of directing those signals. Codes, the PAN sub-label run by boss Bill Kouligas and UK producer Visionist, applies the same methods to the fringes of instrumental grime, hip-hop and club music.
The third release from Codes, Ling's Attachment EP, sounds like it took a long time to make. Its most sentimental track, "44 Blue," is decorated with innumerable little whirring, chirping, wheezing strokes of sound design. These crackling data clouds hover over screwed-up drums and thick sub-bass, evoking a rap instrumental from the distant future. It recalls the "weightless" sound of grime producers like Logos or Mumdance, who have brought renewed interest in textural tinkering to club music. Thankfully, Ling's abstract style is tempered by musical elements, like cheeky melodies and muscular drum patterns.
"Canthem" has the most horsepower. The track's zippy flute melody is clearly grime-influenced, while circuit-bent piano chords in the background give things a seasick tilt. The chintzy MIDI choir, like something out of a Fatima Al Qadiri track, lends "Canthem" both high drama and a sense of humor. Nearly two minutes in, a computerized voice cuts through the mix and reads out a URL: "attachment.fbsbx.com." A quick Google search tells me this is a sub-domain of Facebook mainly "used for opening attachments or videos in Facebook posts." It feels like an Easter egg in some shadowy online scavenger hunt, which is entirely fitting of the hacker aesthetic Ling conjures so well across his EP.
TracklistA1 Thuril Whir
A2 Blue
B1 Jezmonite
B2 Canthem