7.5/10
Neo Wax Bloom
Iglooghost
Iglooghost is one of those magical electronic artists who has such a wild and chaotic brain that you’ll either be entranced or overloaded with their music. On this latest release there’s such a depth to all the sounds that it’s a fine line between passion and too much. With all the great production on this record and sheer love of music you can hear in the range of samples, it will still appeal to electronic fans primarily. While it could definitely stand to calm down at times, the energy will leave most listeners invigorated from start to finish.
On a delightfully warped mix of vocal samples, “Pale Eyes” starts the record with flickering electricity, while mixing a rustic tones into the sound. From soft strings to a pounding rhythm section the track goes all out in its second half, peaking the excitement with runs of keyboard lines. With a frantic and sometimes almost too off-kilter energy, “Super Ink Burst” flies like hip hop and jazz thrown in a blender together. The soaring vocal lines dance with the saxophone to make a clashing yet surprisingly fluid mix that doesn’t let up from start to finish.
Pulling things to a more sombre place in mood, “Bug Thief” lets bells ring out to some of the most glitch-driven sample work on the record. Moving at even faster speeds, the track lets the vocals really stand as the main instrument here. While taking the brass even higher on “Solar Blade” the up and down of the production does start to feel a tad repetitive. This said, the more bit-crushed moments and some of the heavier bass that comes in on this song shows that Iglooghost is constantly exploring different sounds, even if they may be Crazy Frog.
“White Gum” really takes the over-bearing tones of his sound and makes it almost smothering in the best way possible. Dialing everything up for a track that recalls Die Antwoord at times, it goes for broke in its stressful sounds and succeeds. There’s a bouncy fun to the production of “Purity Shards” as it throws R&B samples along with inflating balloons. Making music out of subtly mixed foreign language pieces the track is a mini-masterpiece on the album.
Taking a more varied approach on “Zen Champ” the production is more spread out to contrast cutting distortion with the natural sounding bells in the back. Building this energy to a peak, the highs never lose this mix and the laughing moments are a lovely touch. “Infinite Mint (feat. Cuushe)” offers a more pop approach that feels really perfect for the overall production style. Forcing Iglooghost to soften up in places and focus production in smaller pieces the track has a great pop sensibility to it.
“Teal Yomi Olivine (feat. Mr. Yote)” on the other hand just runs like an Energizer rabbit, seeming to be able to let itself run forever at breakneck paces. The break with loose production featuring Mr. Yote is definitely chaotic but does still feel fresh in contrast to the rest of the record. Like dark hip hop “Peanut Choker” is one of the most chilling tracks on the record as it strips things down to a few parts and lets each of their emotional weights bear. Mellowing out to smooth guitars in its finale, it’s a real high point of the record. “God Grid” gets things back up to epic grandeur, balancing moving strings with a chipmunk like rap. The whole thing sounds like a bizarre hip hop rework but is intriguing for this exact reason.
Words by Owen Maxwell
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