A similar combination has only recently been seen: OKO DJ, on her magnificent album As Above, So Below – track recommendation: »Formentera« – brought together muffled low-end frequencies, cheerful Auto-Tune vocals and a penchant for unexpected twists. With the Amsterdam trio Devon Rexi and the Brit John T. Gast, however, the subtleties that characterized the French artist’s album give way to an exuberant spectacle of distortion, alienation, and aggression. The studio joins in enthusiastically. The result is ADHD-style art-house music for sound fetishists who can never pack enough ideas into a single track. This complete overload is a delight. Amidst the coordinated chaos, there are always enough points of reference to prevent the listener from drifting off course entirely.
In »Flash Flute« oriental percussion rattles along following the eponymous flute. »Mashrub« begins with a heavily syncopated dubstep beat, which doesn’t remain bare for long, but is worn raw by snarling vocals, garish instrumentation and electrified sandpaper. The title track turns its attention to sound system culture whilst simultaneously echoing from near and far. A self-sufficient head-nod for the true connoisseurs, yet at the same time music that can genuinely claim to be—or at least something akin to—new. Anything goes, everything must. The question with this album isn’t »if«, but »when«.
