Inverse Cinematics is the brainchild of Stuttgardt prodigy Danilo Plessow. He’s far too young to be interested in nostalgia, so his debut album, Passin’ Through, can’t really be accused of trying to pre-empt any sort of mid-90s revivalism, but this is certainly the era which his aesthetic most clearly reflects.
The album opens with a couple of tracks which remind of British big beat at it’s peak – hi-tempo hip hop grooves with acid underpinnings. It’s not quite as brash as the big players from that scene, but has the texture and mood of, say Lionrock or Adam Freeland. From here things get mellower, with Rhodes piano moving to the fore and a more laidback tempo. ‘Calm Sea’ settles into a 6/8 lope with minimal, jazz-lite style chords. ‘Sundrops’ picks the tempo up and drops the emphasis onto odd beats. ‘Sambatime’ is just that, before the album rounds out with some moodier, though still uptempo, excursions into suspended and augmented chords with propulsive bass riffs. The beats are mostly sample based rather than programmed and have an inherent grit to them. With a nice blend of samples and digital production, Plessow keeps a warmth to proceedings and the instinctive catchiness of the actual beats keep things enjoyable. There’s been a long enough break from the main wave of bigbeat for these tracks to not feel like bandwagon jumping, but in truth there’s little here that adds to the template. Having said that, I was a fan of the genre the first time around and Passin’ Through certainly stands up to comparison with much of the material which has influenced it.
Adrian Elmer
