Ikeaboy – Ikeaboy (Nute Records)
The album, in its traditional sense as a complete statement, has long since heard its death knell in electronic music. iTunes, Limewire, Beatport – it seems the craft of creating a 40 minute journey through different landscapes, emotions and moods is, unnervingly, beyond most producers, and has been replaced by the byte-sized, snapshot culture that modernity craves on.
Don’t get me wrong. Of course good albums are still being released – but take a scroll down through your media player – do you have a lot of artists on your iPod?
How many songs by each artist do you have, exactly? I’m sure you have a few full albums from your favourite producers, but how many songs are there, on average, under each artist? It’s rare that a producer appreciated for their album; instead more recognised for one or two song contributions to your mix. We’re all guilty of it.
There is hope though. Albums from artists like Burial, the Field, Fourtet or Corrugated Tunnel have all in recent times shown there is still a place for the album in the genre – and the patience of listeners to put the time in to actually ‘feel’ a record still persists.
Using vintage Roland gear alongside software and recorded percussion, Ikeaboy has conceived an album of a true meandering style and atmosphere. From the booming bass of ‘Mirwana’ to the mutated drum n bass of ‘Hand over Fist’, to the bruising synth line of ‘PBR Streetgang’, this album really delivers as a whole.
‘Head Drumming’ pushes and pulls through excellent dub lines and tribal rhythms before leading into the drillcore of ‘Lick Tungsten’. Regularly changing styles, but harkening back to the spirit of early acid and techno; you truly never know what’s around the corner. Skip a track here at your peril.
This first venture on Nute records having previously had some singular releases on D1 and Invisible Agent, Ikeaboy can only go from strength-to-strength from this album. Hopefully it will get more producers out there thinking about releasing longplayers (as long as it stays off fucking Beatport) and hopefully it will be appreciated it as it was supposed to be appreciated – not as a collection of tracks, but an outstanding debut album.
