Since they emerged in 2009, Russian electronic duo Midimode (real names Sergey Baranov and Denis Basov) have established a reputation for combining the intricate programming styles of IDM with a more dancefloor focused electro and breakbeat edge, genre-blending the more cerebral aspects with a party sensibility in a similar manner to say, the likes of Modeselektor. Three years on from their debut album ‘Spaceability’, this follow-up on n5MD’s download-only Enpeg sublabel ‘Nevertale’ offers up a considerably more party-oriented listen when compared to its predecessor. The more streamlined and dancefloor-centred tracks are also noticeably loaded towards the first half of the tracklisting here.
‘One Eternity Later’ opens proceedings with glittery Euro-synth arpeggios gradually rising against a background wash of ominous ambience, but it isn’t long before a propulsive 4/4 tech-house rhythm locks against the sheeny synth-scapes, the addition of contorted DSP manipulation adding a treacherous undercurrent to the otherwise crisp atmospheres. If the chunky breakbeat-oriented outro section calls to mind the highly-tailored proggy nu-skool breaks excursions favoured by the likes of Luke Chable and Andy Page, ‘Kittenbreak’ takes things one step further, its jittery fusion of digitally stuttered beats and elastic G-funk synths suggesting one of BT’s sliced and diced electro mutations, the stark synth riffs that assume the foreground towards the second half intersecting with robotic burbles as the sense of claustrophobic tension heightens.
It’s when Midimode step further away from the dancefloor that some of the most interesting moments here arrive, though. ‘Music That Brings Good News’ sees clicking broken rhythms winding themselves around chiming sampled percussion, darting keys and bright melodic notes, the entire ramshackle web seeming to barely hold itself together as live flutes gently slide into the foreground, before ‘Entering Singularity’ offers up this album’s most coldly beautiful moment as the beats disappear entirely in favour of icy synth grandeur and widescreen atmospherics, the cinematic vibe that’s generated suggesting the looming influences of John Carpenter and mid-eighties Tangerine Dream. While a fair chunk of ‘Nevertale’ covers breakbeat IDM territory that’s been well covered by now, it’s the attention to detail that marks Midimode out as a name to watch.
