“slick_sixty”
Slick Sixty
Nibs and Nabs
Mute
And so, with a refreshed burst of energy, the genre lurches forward just a bit more. Electronic music has divided itself into two very distinct modes, with similar parallels to the distinctions between rock and jazz. On one side, there’s the power of repetition and strong, brief melodies. On the other, a wispy aura of experimentation encourages a shifting set of sonic values. I can’t deny the effective power of a pounding bass line, but I’ll admit that I never listen to that stuff outside of a club. For that, there’s acts like Slick Sixty, whose masterful blend of guitars, loops, scratching, sequencing and the intruding horn part provides plenty of sublime moments while wavering between the two modes. The warbling trumpet on “Recliner Classic” introduces a slinky guitar noodle, while in the background are dubby echoes of paranormal subvocalizing. The seven-minute plus “The Wrestler” features world-class scratching, a drop-down chunk that will give you gratified confusion, and plenty of sitars and vocoders.
Mute Records, 140 W. 22nd Street, Suite 10A, New York, NY 10011; http://www.mutelibtech.com
