Review Summary: do you even vape bro?
Canadian electronic music producer Perkulat0r has a serious knack for mixing spacey melodies with earthquaking bass waves that both seduce and destroy dancefloors with a syrupy naturalness not often found in the world of EDM. His growth as an artist has been notable as well, with each release seeing him exploring new facets of his trademark sound while dipping a toe into new territory each time as well. With
Obelisk, this trend continues, but this time around his trap-laden braggadocio comes in an inconsistent mixed bag of half-baked ideas and semi-engaging party anthems. Unlike the aesthetically focused efforts of days gone past, in the span of these 19 minutes Perkulat0r travels between mechanical dancefloor bangers and laid-back afterparty vibes at an improvident whim. Admittedly, it all starts out rather magnificently, with the energetic ardor of the first couple tracks being what endows
Obelisk with any semblance of personality. The halftime-ish “Rudeflex” and the squelching neuroscopes of the title track show off his production chops in a trippy and memorable fashion, and both shed light on Perkulat0r’s growing potential as an artist whose penchant for dropping swanky canticles knows few bounds. Unfortunately those heady drops aren’t enough to carry the dead weight that makes up the rest of
Obelisk. “Mercury” is all together too long and straightforward in spite of its levitating far-east vibes, and the closers “Kaen” and “Icon” have about as much zest as week-old soda pop. It’s a shame really, because what we’ve come to expect from this dank west-coast beatmaker is better than this. When we have releases like
Transcension that boast stellar tracklistings chock-full of luscious jaunts, it’s hard to really boogie with his latest EP beyond a cursory listen. Resident DJ’s will probably find some useable material in here, but for collectors and aficionados looking for a robust and well-rounded offering of future-bass jams, you're better off digging through Perkulat0r's back catalogue.
