Dalham - Alive In Wonderland (Golden Ape Records)

 

Title: Alive In Wonderland

Artist: Dalham

Label: Golden Ape Records

Cat Number: GAR003

Genre: Apocalyptic Battery

1: Sonoma Relic

2: Chrome Aberration

3: Midnight Climax

4: Reality Wall

“On this outing is the mighty Dalham. Well known for his unique take and exquisite taste in electronic music, he takes a deep dive into the lysergic electro funk soundtrack to his waking dreams.”

Well, that’s some introduction from the press release. I’m particularly sold by “his unique take and exquisite taste in electronic music.” Don’t we all think we’ve got that? The second bit is more pertinent though, and gives one the impression after having taken in this release that Dalham is a bipolar psychopath. It’s a heavy listening experience and if he’s got these tunes in his head while queuing for a pain au chocolate at your local Lidl, I ‘d be ready to run. The beats are heavy throughout, and mostly of a grinding, frictional type; with ‘Chrome Aberration’, ‘Midnight Climax’ and ‘Reality Wall’ being a tadge slower and feeling more sinister than ‘Sonoma Relic’, which throws some break beats into the mix in a vain attempt at levity. It’s never less than interesting, but also worrying.