Chicago,Detroit,Redruth

Album review

The slyly titled Chicago, Detroit, Redruth which links together Luke Vibert's hometown to the birthplaces of techno and house music is another masterful effort in a career that's really been nothing but masterful. As the title suggests, things are a bit more old-school, at least on parts of this outing, with more tracks than usual foregoing Vibert's trademark wacky voice samples, though the anime and educational film voices are still at the heart of some of the songs. Standouts like "Comfycozy," "Brain Rave," and "Breakbeat Metal Music" all bask in the glow of Vibert's whimsical, jazzy approach to electronic music. The opener could be an alien jazzy band briskly jamming in the Mos Eisley Cantina, its menace in line with Vibert's Plug releases. "Breakbeat Metal Music" is experimental house at is most playful, the vocals consisting purely of a sort of robotic Speak & Spell intoning the virtues of the songtitle's subject, focusing on the "pleasant pressure (and) serious rhythm" while warning "danger everyone." When Vibert goes pure techno, the results are just as glorious. The title track bubbles and gurgles in an ominous yet pristine Detroit by way of Redruth way, and the icy clatter is just as invigorating on "Argument Fly," another bubbly vintage throwback. "Swet" is basically eight minutes of career summation, the "meet George Jetson" musical cue blended into a mad warp of house, techno, IDM, future jazz, and vintage early-1900s radio saying a final "goodbye." There are even patches of Kerrier District style disco and soul buried in the mixes. Chicago, Detroit, Redruth could be considered a good place to start for a Vibert newcomer, in the way that it looks to the past and future, fusing textures and inspirations that have made their way into his releases under his own name and under his primary aliases Plug and Wagon Christ.

© Tim DiGravina /TiVo