Mike Cadoo spent most of a decade in the IDM duo Gridlock before starting the solo venture Bitcrush to explore his resurgent fondness for live instrumentation, vocals, and shoegaze textures. Since then he has released five albums, from the 2004 debut Enarc to this year’ more ambient Of Embers. Songs from each are reinterpreted on this collection – thus its title. Not having heard any of the originals, there’ no way for me to know where Cadoo’ work stops and that of the international slate of remixers starts, but that doesn’ spoil the riches of this hour-plus experience.
The best track is the first, a cleansing take on “Post’s by the German solo artist Bersarin Quartett. It’s spacious and chill, the deconstructive drums and eventual sheet of synth pointing to post-rock and ambient respectively. From there, Iceland’ Worm Is Green brings a hip-hop thump to the more clear-cut “Untilted’, while the UK solo project Winterlight conjures electronic shoegaze worthy of a film score on “Every Sunday’. The San Francisco band Stripmall Architecture turns “Every Ghost Has Its Spectre’ into something called “Bitcrush in Dub’, relishing the tension between a squishy centre and the noise scratching at the sides. The Dutch duo Funckarma then seems to turn “Colder’ inside out.
Sequenced as it is, the collection’ second half follows a trajectory towards a more indie vibe, with Cadoo’ vocals often appearing at some level. Oregon solo artist Jatun takes “Waiting For Something’ from ambient dissolve to guitar-raked drama, whereas the Italian duo Vanessa Van Basten finds lush folktronica and then indie rock in “An Island A Peninsula’. San Francisco artist Near The Parenthesis applies keyboards and beats to his eight-minute remix of “The Days We Spent Within’, the Italian band Port-Royal scale “Of Embers’ back to a mellow survey of familiar elements, and Canadian artist SubtractiveLAD makes “Of Days’ roomy enough to bring the record full circle.
Either as an introduction to Bitcrush or just some impressionistic detour, here’ a bliss-out record with lots of ideas, details, and left turns to admire and appreciate.
Doug Wallen
