Si-Cut.db
Find Some Shade
(Highpoint Lowlife Records)
Douglas Benford, the man behind the Si-Cut.db name has been creating music for nearly a decade now, releasing music on labels such as Bip Hop and Expanding as well as working with other artists like Beige, Scanner, and Stephan Mathieu. Find Some Shade is his newest full-length effort and it continues down the path travelled by his past work, as staticy melodies flutter over all kinds of minimal programming and deconstructed dub sounds.
The album opens with "Papercuts," and you get a good idea of things from square one. Filtered melodies wash out against one another, all vying for middle position but never really gaining much ground. "Fortune Meadow" takes things and sets them down on a much more firm framework, dropping a juicy beat and a thick bassline that keeps things bobbing along. Much of the album continues with the same elements, altering them just enough to keep things interesting.
"Buster" is probably the most dancy track on the release, but even it wheezes with filtering that makes it sound like dub run through a bank of damaged filters as hiss and quiet static gently percolate off the edges. 9 tracks spread out over the course of nearly an hour running length, and although much of the album is swimming in thick beats and processed basslines, a great deal of the release is also the quiet washes between the thumping. Some of the more purely ambient work is actually the more interesting, as without the rhythmic elements, even more of the nuances of processed sound can be heard clearly. Basically, if you're a fan of fuzzy, minimal electronic (imagine Pole with a bit more kick and even more aural gauze), you'll find things to enjoy here.
Rating: 6.5
