Review Summary: A vague sense of familiarity.
Nick Edwards is known to pull ideas from techno, industrial, dub, drone, and ambient to make textured sonic landscapes. With the messy palette he uses there is no sense of disjointed ideas but a hypnotic mixture of theories and emotions. Listening and crossing over all these surreal planes I cant help to feel a vague sense of familiarity when I turn each corner. A distant cry of help? A funky bass rhythm? A lost loved one? Hypnotized.
There is a familiar structure to most of these songs on this record, Ekoplekz starts out in creating a constant rhythm throughout the track and he then applies a mixtures of those genres that I previously stated. These rhythms can sometimes be linear others obtuse, but it is only used for a helpful guide throughout a song so our focus doesn't wander about the madness surrounding us. The best track that backs up this theory is 'Severn Beach', its not the most abrasive of songs on here but you can definitely hear shadings of techno and dub escaping from the atmosphere. Another trait to note on this album is its constant change of pace it can come from a calm environment such as 'Robert Rental', or switch to a aggressive mode, 'Pressure Level'.
Ekoplekz is an eclectic artist, meshing together ideas from other great artist locking in their greatest moments and giving me music to pull the ends of my moustache and swivel in my computer chair. There are some low points on this album though, 'Coalpit Heath' and 'Analogue Twitch' lack captivating moments as heard on such a track as 'Turning Out'. Thankfully, the album doesn't fall out of focus because the next groove will keep the album on the right path.
