What I find truly remarkable about this album is the singularity of the musical ideas. You’d be forgiven for thinking that Lowriders Deluxe was the output of one man, let alone four – and four who have never collaborated together before, mind you. Mark Streatfield, who’ previously released beat-centric electronica under the moniker Zainetica, handles the keyboard duties alongside Chicago expat Joseph Auer, who now resides in Tokyo. It’s the latter conspirator’s IDM and ambient output that influences much of the material on the cerebral Future Deluxe. The two friends teamed up with two UK guitarists – Simon Thomas (Utility Player) and Clive Burns (the group’ black sheep, who comes from gothic garage rockers Deep Valley Orgasm) – to ultimately form Lowriders Deluxe. Each player lends a hand at processed percussion, as well as effecting the instruments until what we’re left with is a digital broth; each ingredient is imperceptible from the other. Thomas and Burns’ guitar work weaves in with Auer and Streatfield’ synthesiser lines and you can’ tell who’ playing what.
It’s certainly an eclectic combined history. Cocteau Twins, the 4AD label, Spaceman 3 and Slowdive are all namechecked as influences, alongside the likes of Rush, Nirvana, Parliament Funkadelic and Joy Division. Future Deluxe certainly has all the aforementioned band’ elements buried deep within the thick waves of electronica, which seems like a difficult task, but it gives this record a point of difference. Slowdive’ Pygmalion-era shoegaze is evident on “Offworld Colonies’ and ‘Test 4 (Alternative Version)’, while the moodiness of the Cocteau Twins informs the entire record. The occasional glitchy beats are reminiscent of latter-day Radiohead: “Future Industria’ lifts its stereophonic, broken-down and processed drum loop from Hail to the Thief‘ “The Gloaming’. “Interlude’ and “Internal 1′ deliver IDM that leans more towards Streatfield’ back catalogue.
Future Deluxe is ambient without becoming withdrawn. Its otherwordly aura is engaging, although a good edit wouldn’ have gone astray: at 58 minutes in length, it feels self-indulgent in parts and I found my concentration waning by the time “Chrome Yellow’, the third-last track on the disc, came around. But the quality of the musicianship, the amalgamation of disparate influences, backgrounds and ideas, and the overall product win out over my castrated attention span. It feels like a one-off project, a product that could only have been made at that specific point in space and time. You get the feeling that if they tried to make the same album tomorrow, they’d end up with an completely different result. Which makes Future Deluxe that little bit more exciting.
Dom Alessio
