As part of Mandar alongside S.A.M. and Lazare Hoche, Malin Genie has enjoyed something of a cult success and with standout tracks like ‘String Theory’ still doing the business over a year later, the future is bright. Very bright indeed. Genie’s latest body of work ‘Anthropomorphic Sympathy’ released on his own Malin Genie Music imprint is incredibly 14 tracks long and thankfully not just end to end club bangers. No sir, this is a well thought out insight into the many styles and genres that make up the Malin Genie sound.
The LP ‘Anthropomorphic Sympathy’ is not what you might expect from a usually house and techno orientated artist as this LP is packed full of weird and wacky sound design genius moments, unique soundscapes and genuinely different directions for an artist that perhaps his followers might not have seen before. From the muted deepness of LP opener ‘You’ the album moves more than a few gears and into the realm of Electro, perhaps IDM on the likes of ‘Dimlove’, ‘-*-‘, ‘Empathy Master’ and ‘November Subitizing’.
Not to downgrade any of the other tracks on this impressive LP, but our pick is the forlorn breakbeats of A2 ‘Sopine’. The lushness of the pads and the sliding of the wiggling synths in and out of focus offer an incredibly emotional example of a track that would work just as well on the dancefloor as it would in a more intimate setting.
A2 aside, the first more dancefloor orientated moments don’t appear again until title track ‘Anthropomorphic Sympathy’ appears midway through the album and even then it is flavored with breakbeat drums and shimmering reversed pads. Perfect for those early morning sessions. ‘Allopoiesis’ shares a similar eye for the dancefloor but in a much more glitched out Aphex Twin manner. There are of course stunning musical interludes found throughout this album, especially in ‘Singularity’, ‘Lived II Time’ and of course ‘Interlude’ which serve as a musical palate cleanser. With not one track exceeding the magical 6-minute mark that is usually one of the hallmarks of a club track this LP changes the rules of what an electronic music album should sound like. Coming from a recent past that includes one of minimal music’s more soulful anthems this is a refreshing change of tact.
‘Anthropomorphic Sympathy’ is currently on pre-sale at decks.de.
More info on Malin Genie
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More info on Mandar
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