Richard Devine
Lipswitch
Schematic
Delarosa And Asora
Agony
Schematic
Behold, the marriage between computer science and music has been officially realized, and what an unholy matrimony it has become. As the twenty-first century is slowly opening its eyes, the collective higher consciousness creating new musical languages via machines is slowly taking over. Be apprised. Be very apprised. Humanoid/Atlanta resident Richard Devine and his Schematic cohort, Delarosa And Asora, are finally heeding Warp Records’ sonic outlines and infecting the United States.
Lipswitch, Devine’s debut for the burgeoning Miami label, plays like a sci-fi narrative and a Jackie Chan fight sequence simultaneously. Layers upon layers of collapsing-then-rising abrasive percussion weave through quirky force fields of semi-tangible melody. Devine has found Aphex Twin’s remaining laptop fingerprints and picked up right where he left off. Still, with many IDM releases, it is somewhat taxing to describe each individual track, as the record must be experienced from start to finish. But with Devine’s extraordinary transitions from one tune to the next, the listener has no choice but to be subdued by the overwhelming chaos encapsulating their ears for the full 38 minutes.
Delarosa (aka Scott Herren), on the other hand, welcomes warmth and tranquility into the mutating rhythms swelling throughout his Schematic debut, Agony. Anything but agonizing, the disc is a reminder that even multi-instrumentalists have cyber-visions, as well. Colorful, consistently melodic and intricate, Agony ups the ante in experimental music and gives Autechre a run for their knob tweaks. Delarosa and Richard Devine represents the ever-growing breed of releases by the laptop lotharios, which only serves to invite the listener into their entrancing, pixilated realm.
Schematic Records, http://www.schematic.net
