Phoenix, Arizona-based electronic producer / multi-instrumentalist Ryan Breen has already accumulated a substantial reputation as a recording engineer for the likes of Bubblewrap Industries’ Coppe’ and Mush’s Lymbyc System, and this debut album under his Back Ted N Ted moniker follows recent stints touring alongside Jamie Lidell and Xiu Xiu. Recorded primarily in Breen’s own home studio over the period 2001-06, the twelve tracks here lean predominantly towards leftfield instrumental hiphop in a vein not completely dissimilar to Scott Herren or Daedelus’ more filmic, downbeat outings, scatterings of found sounds and random samples making appearances amongst frequently treacherous beatscapes graced with the numerous instrumental contributions of friends and associates. There’s also a distinct emphasis upon digitally precise tweaking and manipulation of percussive elements amongst the sampled drum-heavy productions, the extremely nice mixing and mastering job showing off repeated levels of intricate detail; headphones or a sweet set of speakers turned up real loud being two of my most recommended avenues for listening to Pop Animal.
Opener “Emo Bar’ emerges from a whirl of distorted shortwave radio interference and swirling sampled orchestration, before long things lock down amongst spidery, ramshackle-sounding sampled hiphop breaks, grinding metallic tones and slowburning muted jazz horns; the storm of headspinning manipulated tones that lies in the foreground beautifully counterpointing the comparative calm and eerie vocal samples that lie beneath. There’s certainly also a stray hint of Kieran Hebden’ more drum-heavy moments in the crash and clatter of the digitally contorted cymbals, something that “Exit Credits’ brings out in full, placing skittering female-accented voice synthesis with gorgeous organ tones and close-miked snares before crashing down into an incredibly unexpected female vocal solo worthy of Pink Floyd’s “Great Gig In The Sky.’ After the entrance of what sounds like a random conversation (half in Espanol) about “spicy sauce’, “V-Bron’ signals the introduction of gorgeous phased horns in one of this album’s strongest highlights, slow twinkling harpsichord tones spiraling beneath chunky-sounding sampled drums and burnished-sounding electric guitar chords in perhaps the biggest veer into post-rock territory to feature amongst the twelve tracks here.
The subtly reggae-tinged “After Loss’ meanwhile sees dub influences rising to the forefront, the disembodied-sounding tones of what sounds like a distant phone conversation centering on “airport troubles’ flitting ghostlike beneath deep rich bass, one-note organ keys and swing-accented sampled cymbals, as delayed-out snares smack back and forth. Perhaps the only slightly jarring note amongst an otherwise near impeccable sonic selection here is the abundance of queasy pitch-shifted female vocals that make an appearance towards the end of the tracklisting, but in comparison to the numerous other delights on offer here, that comes across as something of a minor quibble. An extremely impressive debut album from Breen under his Back Ted N Ted guise, Pop Animal is certain to delight fans of the likes of Prefuse 73, Daedelus and DJ Olive’ TheAgriculture label.
Chris Downton
