Although this is Robot Koch’ debut album, he is in no way new to production, with his club project Jahcoozi, his post rock outfit The Tape, and a stream of beat production for Infinite Lives, Rustie and Amanda Blank, so its fitting his debut is released on his own label.
You may expect another album of wonky beats to just fit in with the crowd, and the opener ‘Death Star Droid’ may not lay rest to that, a mutant, tripped up dubstep beat, with that Starkey relentlessness of boom and synths, but things change with “Away Fromâ€, skittering vocal snatches and glitched melodies give way to pounding drum breaks, like Prefuse73 jamming with Modeselektor. ‘Hard To Find’ veers into Dilla territory, while “Love And The Machine†turns the heat up with those Starkey/Joker style synth lines. Grace guests with vocals on ‘People Are Strange’, sounding like Edith Piaf if fed through machines, while Manya guests on ‘While’. Its then back to the club friendly themes in ‘Heaven Is My Real Estate’, and the wonkier beats of ‘Memories’, while ‘Gorom Sen’ has a dub/step/dancehall vibe with massive bass drops. ‘A Song Formally Known As Tooth’ rounds off the album with a delicate glitch-hop melodic piece to bring you down from the frenetic pace.
A great album for lovers of Dilla, Modeselektor or Starkey, but standing on its own, as a fun, adventurous album.
Wayne Stronell
