Carl Finlow - Plasmoids (Science Cult)

 

Title: Plasmoids

Artist: Carl Finlow

Label: Science Cult

Cat Number: SCV 07

Genre: Electro

1: Carrier Wave

2: Trimonogogo

3: Plasmoids

4: Modus Operandi

5: The Lowdown

6: Relic

7: Compliant

8: Reach

9: Work It

10: Thought Process

11: Monomers

12: Echo Location

It’s a safe bet that Carl Finlow, under his own name or in one of his various guises, is a shoe in to be one of modern electro’s standard bearers. It’s not hard to see why either, as he’s still riding the crest of his own machine funk wave that began unfurling almost 30 years ago. This his first album of all new material for a few years and I’m happy to say that it sticks to what he does best. Razor sharp electro that covers most bases, but is underpinned by a strong sense of drama and foreboding. The album starts as it means to go on, with ‘Carrier Wave’, a slow, noirish track, not too dissimilar in tone to ‘Descent’ which came out on Craigie Knowes three years ago. ‘Relic’ is another track in which you can feel the cold hand of crime, while ‘Monomers’ has some great drum programming, resulting in a pervasive bounce and instinctive head nodding. At the heart of this collection is an understanding of what makes people dance, hardwired into each distilled detail. ‘Trimonogogo’ uses featherlight beats aligned with spacial interplay to get its point across, and the albums last track. ‘Echo Location’ finishes on a sombre, but highly syncopated drive through electro’s nether regions. All the tracks on this album are given ample room to breath and evolve, under the auspices of an omnipresent aura of unsettled gloom that is underpinned with as much levity as the funk will allow.