Chicago-based electronic producer Josh Pyle has been making music under the Aphorism moniker for around a decade, and this debut album ‘Surge’ follows on the heels of numerous netlabel compilation appearances and a track on last year’s ‘Emerging Organisms’ compilation from Tympanik Audio. While the furiously contorted breakbeats of opening track ‘Ulkine’ at first might suggest a breakcore-oriented listening experience ahead, it soon shifts down into the lush, ominous and cinematic IDM synth pads that colour much of this collection – one that’s certainly in good company with Typanik’s established dark IDM aesthetic. The foreboding ‘What We See Now’ and ‘Covert / Convert’s certainly maintain this trajectory effectively, merging tight webs of complex, DSP-tweaked rhythmic programming with icy, minimalist keys and majestic swathes of synth chords, but in this case it’s Pyle’s firm grasp of the bigger sonic ‘picture’ here that impresses most. Rather than getting lost in minute sonic detail (though there’s certainly plenty of that on offer here), it’s the strong emotional undertow that’s most apparent throughout the twelve tracks, and while the Martin Luther King-sampling ‘Two Sides Of The Bullet’s might have seemed clumsy in other hands, here it’s surprisingly chilling and effective. As is Tympanik’s established penchant by now, they’ve pretty much filled the disc to the brim with three additional remixes from labelmates Totakeke, Access To Arasaka and Tapage, all of which offer consistently interesting new takes on the original tracks. Personally, I found this to be easily one of Tympanik’s strongest releases of late – fans of moody, industrial-edged IDM should definitely investigate ‘Surge.’
Chris Downton
