An exceedingly wide range of styles with a deep textual palette; yet all this varied material shares that common spirit of courageous dedication to musical ideas.

34 MP3 Songs in this album (157:18) !
Related styles: Electronic: IDM, Electronic: Glitch, Type: Experimental

People who are interested in Apparat Muslimgauze Paul Kalkbrenner should consider this download.


Details:
This could prove the most ambitious electronic album of the year â coming in at over 2 and a half hours, itâs longer than Joanna Newsomâs three-disc Have One On Me â and in that span, Ranvir Bassi tackles an exceedingly wide range of styles with a deep textual pallette. On an early track âNot in a Zoo, in an Office, in New York,â clattering bells and organ provide the backdrop for a spoken word piece that manages to split the difference between Ghostpoet and Life Without Buildings. This gives way to âGippy,â harsh digital effects and insistent, aggressive base invoking the post-industrial dread present in so much of the Hyperdub labelâs ouput. The techno âMoonbeamsâ is even more relentless, beats paired with ever-ascending glitches. At this point it becomes apparent that the closest musical analog may be Muslimgauze. While Bassi doesnât use the same Middle Eastern instrumentation (ironic, seeing as Bassi has roots in that stretch of the world that Muslimgauze was so intensely preoccupied with) or engage in Bryn Jonesâ radical sloganeering, they share a certain proflicacy, a willingness to strech ideas out over long periods, and a percussive intensity that can reach pummeling heights. The many tracks of There are no maps to find me shift from techno, classic IDM and glitch to trancey numbers like âDeer God Forest,â (as occult and arboreal as the name implies) to Eno-isms, fucked up synth-pop (âAkaali Kid the Anti-Limiter,â) digi-Zither ruminations (âNew Weird Americaâ,) and the ambient breakbeat of âJungle Zen de Chiyono,â yet all this varied material shares that common spirit of courageous dedication to musical ideas, often leading to somewhat punishing results for the listener. What could be the closest thing to pop here, âI See Ghosts,â sounds like fashionable German tech-popâ¦mashed up with thudding hardstyle. Here, again, an affect shared with the best dubstep is expressed without applying that genreâs form. Taken as a whole, the album can be a bit overwhelming, but in the new world of art, thatâs not really a substantive criticism. Mixing and matching songs, one could make several very satisfying albums of a more standard length from all the material available here. /// Review by O(h)rtlos ///