Alex Israel – A Man Of Qualities EP
Having spent a portion of his life as a session musician for legends like Chic and Prince, Alex Israel is also responsible for the somewhat bizarre hip hop alias Rich Heebner, a name under which he’s released a voluminous amount of SoundCloud demos. You’d think that such an eclectic output might mean that the Chicago-based, Detroit-influenced producer’s allegiance might rest with some form of mainstream pop music, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. In a 2012 interview with Little White Earbuds, Israel expressed fatigue with poppy sounds, sighing “I can’t even take stuff anymore if it’s not rough and tumble, I lose interest.” Israel certainly knows himself better than I do, but I disagree with his quote. Maybe he meant that in terms of consuming or listening to new music, he can only stomach sinewy, wrong-side-of-the-tracks scowling analogue house these days, but as for the music he makes? Pop sounds seem to be an essential underpinning.
Sure, his previous release on Crème Organization had certain moments of rawness to them; the unfortunately titled “Front Butt” was like trying to navigate your way through an MC Escher painting – full of hard edges likely knock you off your feet and cause bruising. Even on “Habituation Micturation”, a vocal house track that repeats “don’t pee on my house” (apparently based on an incident where vandals were caught urinating on the side of fellow Detroit techno producer Kevin Reynolds’ domicile), there’s just enough pop structure gluing the track together to keep it rumbling along without dissolving into chaos. And likewise, it’s that polish underlying the gritty structure of Israel’s tracks that makes the A Man of Qualities EP a pleasure to consume.
The title track bursts into its tense first minute with a sparse anxiety quality to it, rumbling bass growing around the persistent kick-drum and baritone vocal-house narration. The lurching bassline gnashing alongside some tidy MPC work almost feels like Vereker trying his hand at deep house, but Israelis a bit more of a maximalist, and brings a shiny synth gurgle into the second half to alleviate some of those negative vibes. “Angulas” begins with a shimmering keyboard flutters that sound like sunlight cutting through waves in the Mediterranean, but quickly wraps a synth line against some handclaps that are rigid and militaristic enough to sound like they were recorded in a Russian missile silo. Here, Israelis fully dedicated to pleasing dancers, continually adding layers of debauched percussion and increasing the sense of urgency permeating the beat – a more uptempo, club-ready version of a Willie Burns synth freakout.
“Mustard Greens” is the only production that feels like it’s lagging out of step with the rest of the EP, but perhaps the fact that even the Crème Organization press release calls it “a slow and lazy affair” is tainting my opinion. Whereas it’s the most reigned in that I’ve heard any Israel production to date, the fluttering keys that he puts overtop the fairly straightforward bassline feel languid and unmemorable – like waking up from a fever dream only to drift back off minutes later. However, closer “Colugo” provides a bouncy piece of Jersey swing complete with the chord stabs and siren-esque sustained synth notes necessary to install a healthy dose of joyful ’90s nostalgia, buffered with thick enough meaty claps to feel contemporary. If Israel wasn’t insistent that he likes his dance music rough, “Colugo” could be taken as a bit of a soft spot for the past. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, of course.
Brendan Arnott
Tracklisting:
A1. A Man Of Qualities
A2. Mustard Greens
B1. Angulas
B2. Colugo