Class Insecta

Presentación del Álbum

Class Insecta is the sixth recording to appear under Ikue Mori's own name on John Zorn's Tzadik imprint, but she has also recorded for the label as a core member of Phantom Orchard, Painted Desert, and the utterly beguiling Mephista. Self-produced, this set features Mori playing completely solo, utilizing her trademark laptop. For those of us who have come to expect experimental music from her, Class Insecta comes as no surprise, but its context does: the contemporary electronic dance music scene, or at least her hearing of it. These 12 pieces mix, match, morph, mutate, and sometimes mutilate various aspects of that sonic subculture. That said, Mori's forays into this kind of electronic and synthetic rhythm-driven exploration don't come off as fully realized -- they feel more like sketches or rough idea pieces than concrete steps forward in a given direction. They feel tentative rather than bold, and while occasionally interesting and highly listenable, these works sound like afterthoughts. There are some occasionally compelling loops, some nice combinations of breaks, glitches, and fractured ambience on tracks such as "Master of Deception," and "Hemiptera." On "Anthropomorphic Weavil," she stitches together various subgenres from drill'n'bass to minimalist techno and microhouse, but they don't necessarily work in a sustained way. Ultimately, Class Insecta feels more like a sidestep than a move forward for Mori. Her previous recordings have broken so much new ground that this one feels minor in comparison.

© Thom Jurek /TiVo