Monday, 30 June 2014

Friends Electric 'Friends Electric E.P.' Review


Artist: Friends Electric


Title: Friends Electric E.P.


Label: Triskele Music


Released: 21st June 2014




My only knowledge of Friends Electric prior to this release was their re-mix of Pitch Black's 'Free Fall' a good while back, which I thoroughly enjoyed. The chaps behind Friends Electric is Bill Robin (Rebel HiFi, Dub War, Warp Technique) and his old pal Sam Rice-Edwards. So taking this into consideration my first thoughts were I might be pleased with what this E.P. had to offer and my second a 10 track E.P.? Surely, this is an L.P.?

The first track 'Longwave' starts with dusty record crackles, radio tuning fx and a lovely acoustic guitar hook. This is soon accompanied by lush synths and an ethereal operatic female voice which when all combined forms a solid chill out track. Next up is 'Freeze Frame' which again utilises those dusty record crackles to form a nest for some lovely loops and a funky bassline which glides along like a penguin on ice. I'm already starting to be sold with this release.

'Pondlife' begins with an ambient intro followed by sparse drumming which slowly becomes more consistent while a variety of twisted fx and pitch bends are implemented to stunning effect along with a sprinkling of robotic female samples and little jazz like keys. Although, all three tracks so far are quite different this is proving to be down-tempo at it's finest. 'F%ck The Whole Thing Up' is a dubby piece of electronica with a little more drive than the previous tracks add some well sourced samples and some interesting diversions on the breakdown it's perhaps my favourite so far.

'Ode To Allen' is a jamboree bag of dubbed out cosmic afro-funk followed by a couple of Pitch Black re-mixes including the one I mentioned before. 'Try To Breathe' is a spacey melodic dub followed by a more hard hitting & squelchy 'Sonica Dub' which leads nicely into the final track a re-mix of I.S.W.T. 'Temperamental Vibrations' and to be honest I'm not familiar with the original but going by this I suspect they've dubbed out a lush and jazzy piece of trip-hop.

Review by Woodzee



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