Skoud – Systems and Drafts (Motivesounds)

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It is extremely unwise to allow one’s press officer to mention Boards of Canada as point of comparison for one’s debut album. Skoud does not sound like Boards of Canada. Boards of Canada sound like Boards of Canada because of their hours spent in the studio with Boards of Canada. I’m not sure I even like Boards of Canada that much and I can make the distinction. Lacking the eerie transpostional wobbles and mercurial organics of the Scots’ work, Skoud’s debut album sounds more like Pole, Plaid and Pilote. On track after track intricate, complicated beat programming is divebombed by portenteous swoops of cinematic atmospherics. Where he loses the mid-nineties Warp fixation- some interesting ideas emerge- “Fu” is a great little nugget of chip-funk; “THC” does some nice Viberty things with its vocals and bass; the piano solo off “Requiem for the Art College” is a pleasantly Icelandic-sounding album closer. But these are sketches of ideas to be more convincingly realised and combined in future releases rather than this rather disperate, if accomplished, collection.

Skype on the other hand is a work of brilliant invention, enabling one to have international phonecalls over the internet for free and comes with my highest recommendation.

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