Lumigraph/D.K. – Skull Bone
Using the tagline “nautically inclined” for your SoundCloud profile may dredge up all-too-recent memories of sea punk, but fortunately Lumigraph’s music doesn’t rely on twittering dolphin sounds or sea foam blue hair dye to leave an impression. Instead, the term might apply more accurately to his geographical preferences: Scroll through his tumblr and you’ll see vistas and wide-open spaces overlooking bodies of water: Shots of tourist-filled Montauk Point, photos taken out the window of airplanes, the glimmer of sunlight reflecting off the surface of swimming pools. That same nautical influence was very traceable in recent EP for Mister Saturday Night, which walked the line between breezy house on “Yacht Cruiser” and the claustrophobic improvisational crunch of “Playing My Numbers”.
On the first release from Clement Meyer’s new Odd Frequencies label, Lumigraph delves into murky waters with a gurgling hybrid drum machine worker that might tip its hat to James Stinson and the Drexciya crew. It’s got the robotic, unending thump reminiscent of the early Dance Mania catalogue, with dissonant, plodding synths upsetting any kind of order. Like a bubbling pit of primordial ooze, it’s malleable enough to create several different possibilities. Drop it alongside any recent releases from other Mister Saturday Night contemporaries such as Boya, and it’ll sound right at home. However, Odd Frequencies’ decision to press the record as a 10″ might also mean that this is one recommended for home listening.
A little less is known about Parisian producer D.K (not to be confused with Shed’s WK7 moniker) who’s only other release dropped on Meyer’s Get The Curse label at the beginning of the year. While D.K’s inaugural release was marked by the kind of off-kilter machine funk that sounds at home in the Future Times camp, there’s a bit more of a snarl to “Untitled”, which collects all the pots and pans from your kitchen, and then hits them angrily, many times over. While the track begins similarly to something like a Dolo Percussion tool, it feels slightly muted; devoid of the same infectious energy that Max D packs into his work. The energy perks up with the arrival of a haywire metal detector cuts in, sounding off sporadically behind the thudding clash of the drum machines and cutting through the track’s earlier sluggishness. It’s a small touch, but one that distinguishes it from the voluminous outpouring of similar sounding material.
Brendan Arnott
Tracklisting:
A1. Lumigraph – Skull Bone
B1. D.K. – Untitled