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
