First of all: Turn off the lights, eliminate background noise. No distractions and listen very carefully. If the first sounds of »Pool« hit the ear, synesthetic reflections swim within seconds over anvil and stirrup to the pineal gland like a stream over slippery rock – so preheat the floating tank in the best case. Because nothing on this album is regular, nothing immediately accessible – but this album unfolds after a certain time maximum delimiting effect and flows through the brain like rain. Under the name Skee Mask, Zenker protégé Bryan Müller once again shows everyone why no one can compete with him in terms of visceral breakbeats anymore – not in this country, not anywhere else. Shortly after his debut »Shred« from 2016, the Ilian tape resident was already paid many euphoric compliments, as his style behaved almost off the cuff like nothing else in the diffuse genre mash between IDM, ambient techno and atmospheric dub or drum’n’bass – a mixture that he continues to refine to this day. His productions reach a new level, from the delicately delimited intro »Nvivo« to the insane beat programming of »DJ Camo Bro« or »Breathing Method« to the drug-soaked AI post-funk à la »Harrison Ford«, far beyond everything that currently goes by the name of electronic music. This is another reason why »Pool« can be considered his strongest album to date, even though its predecessors already took top positions in many annual lists. With a rhythmic variance that has become rare, the right melodic understatement and physical timbres à la Aphex Twin, Skee Mask actually succeeds in demonstrating a maximum of independence and passion for his craft in every single track of this album. The sequencing of »Pool« is therefore as immaculately fractal as the cover, the sampling as lost in thought as the horizon, the added musical value inestimable. History is being made here.
Pool
