There’ve already been a few interesting theories buzzing around the internet as to who exactly enigmatic electronic producer Brainwaltzera is, one of the most intriguing ones being that it’s another alias of Richard D. James. The theory began during Aphex’s mammoth 2015 Soundcloud track drop when a Soundcloud account registered under ‘user18081971′ that was later confirmed to belong to James commented on a track that Brainwaltzera had uploaded to his own account (that had coincidentally appeared on the web at almost exactly the same time as James’).
While there are certainly moments here where it’s plausible that RDJ is behind the sounds on this latest six track EP ‘Aescoba’ (which arrives a few months on from his debut ‘Marzipan’ EP), it’s just as likely to be the work of some unknown producer tangentially influenced by the Aphex Twin, who the original artist just happened to stumble upon and enjoy. Whatever the truth is, it certainly has all the makings of a good story, one that’s perhaps bolstered even further by the fact that a lot of the tracks collected here sound like they could have been recorded more than a decade ago.
‘Muddy Puddle Trot’ is the track here that’s likely to prick up the ears of Aphex enthusiasts the most, and indeed it comes across as a close cousin to midtempo early moments like ‘On’ as a spiralling synth arpeggio gently winds it ways against refracted counterpointed notes and swelling bass tones, before a clattering hiphop break that screams 1992 locks in halfway to power things to a swaggering conclusion. If the aforementioned track is easily the most elegantly arranged here, ‘Dual TM’ shifts gears entirely as a twinkling gamelan-esque loop of melodic tones plays atop a monotonously crunching krautrock-esque kickdrum, the glimmering electronics that play around the edges suddenly becoming more unhinged as the beats break down into a mass of juddering timestretching.
‘Poly Anna Summers’ meanwhile comes across like a ghostly echo of triphop as dusty snare breaks ripple out beneath warm glowing layers of ambient synths and atmospheric chiming tones, the background noise of what sounds like field recorded rain and distant people adding to the lulling feel, before ‘Acetonia’ gets more cold and eerie as glimmering electronics build against digitally treated background chatter, the snapping hiphop snares that lock in halfway injecting an undertone of menace into the sheeny surroundings. Whether this EP proves to be the work of Richard D James or not, there’s an abundance of intriguing braindance on offer here.
