Both Amphia and Cristi Con’s body of work unnaturally impressive. While Romanian minimal was veering down a more functional route the crew associated with the before mentioned were opting for a more emotive direction. Cristi’s work as part of SIT, Amorf and of course his own solo work flourishes with insightful melodies and a turn of mood previously found in more progressive genres.
The past year as clearly been a pivotal moment in the Romanians career as he been working hard on reaching out to the many reaches of electronic music. Part one of his ‘Out Of Cycle’ long player touches on many genres including trip hop, downtempo jams, but all have that quintessential Amphia bar of quality.
We pick up the release with A2 ‘Flux’ and from the very beginning captivating is the only word that springs to mind. The mood is immediately created with the airy pads that swirl around the punchy drums. The gnarled bassline snarls and filters in such a way that springs the track into life. The hi hats swing with a loose swagger that has become the calling card of Cristi and that is only the opening salvos of the track. An off-tune synth alters the mood in a classic change of emotion that is often expected but seldom pictured.
Rewinding back to the start of side A and ‘Western Habits’ and the knack for bassy goodness and ethereal musical elements takes a kickdown in BPM. Flipping over and ‘Soul Connection’ is a return to more peak time moods and again Cristi’s deft ear for lighter than air musical touches is sublime.
Swapping for the second disc and ‘Quantum Chronics’ somehow manages to combine a breakbeat track with a 4×4 bomb and it creates a shuffling groover that seems to offer the type of track that will leave a dancefloor wondering just what is or has just happened. Flipping over to the last side of the disc and ‘Politics of Entertainment’ delves into the grey area that I find that minimal and jazz often occupies. Expert producers such as Cons have such a deep understanding of their machines that the free form drums and sliding electronic sound palette defies logic.
In true album format the last track on the release ‘Crossroads’ offers a downtempo backdrop. While this type of track is almost obligatory in an electronic music album it does not feel forced as Cristi’s love of the full spectrum of music is well known and understood. If this is only part one of the album we can’t wait for part two and to listen to the whole body of work from start to finish.
The first part of Cristi Con’s ‘Out Of Cycle’ LP is now available on pre-order form deejay.de.
More info on Cristi Cons
Trommel Podcast (as SIT) | Facebook | Resident Advisor | Soundcloud | Discogs
More info on Amphia
Facebook | Resident Advisor | Soundcloud | Discogs
