Apparently a close relative of The Temptations’ David Ruffin, San Francisco-based electronic producer Brandon Ruffin has been producing tracks as Ruff Draft for much of the last decade, during which time he’s also been a resident musician at San Francisco’s Resonate, and also a founder of the Rootnote Collective. Given his geographical and musical associations, it’s no huge surprise to see the likes of Flying Lotus and J. Dilla exerting a palpable influence amongst the 14 tracks collected on this latest download-only album from Ruff Draft ‘Illusion Fracture.’ Opening track ‘Overt Miracles / Beliefs’ sees Ruffin joining forces with fellow SF beatmaker Yoyoma to craft a gorgeously delicate fusion of loose drifting percussion, phased synths and jazzy bass runs that’s certainly a close cousin to the likes of Flylo, but compared to that producer’s scattered rhythms, there’s far more of a meaty MPC punch to the beats here.
‘Taste Of Blood’ gets more jittery and eerie, sending pitched down synths trailing against a swaggering backdrop of boom-bap rhythms while clicking percussion fills add an organic edge to the squelching gamecore electronics. Elsewhere, ‘Logic Gate’ kicks the pace up a few notches as clattering breakbeats accelerate up to near drum and bass tempos against pitched-up indigenous tribal samples and layers of glimmering analogue synths, and distant sub-bass powers beneath, before ‘Foes And Folly’ sees Swoonz’s angelic guest vocals getting cut-up and rippled against a backdrop of twinkling melodic notes and fragile-sounding rhythms, the appearance of a wasp-like buzzing synth signallling the emergence of slightly more robust beats and dazzling arpeggiated electronics. While there’s certainly a firm debt to the aforementioned Dilla and Flylo, there’s more than enough individual character on show here to make ‘Illusion Fracture’ stand strong on its own. Impressive stuff that’s well worth tracking down.
