- I've been sort of obsessed with Milyoo since his debut single, Dasein, on Subeena's OPIT label in 2010. I'd like to think it was justified—that track, with its queasy pressurized bassweight and hallucinogenic swirl, hinted at house with its brutal kick drum but never bridged the gap, and frankly didn't need to. Since then, Tommy Wilson has appeared on UK house underdog West Norwood Cassette Library and back on OPIT again with—you guessed it—even housier records, and it's under those auspices that he releases his adventurous but compact debut album, Archeology.
If you've paid any attention to his previous work, Archeology should sound exactly how'd you expect it to: there's some danceable moments, but there's a lot of painstakingly complex, solipsistic beat structures that would be a nightmare for most DJs. Even at his most floor-friendly, Milyoo remains supremely oddball: there's "Colors," where unison vocal samples are bulldozed by the track's clomping beat, or "Tough Enough," which is the closest Milyoo gets to deep house, all bass-heavy ripples and discernible vocal phrasing. His way with vocals is one of his most distinctive features: he slices them into pieces so small they're almost inaudible, and certainly inhuman. Unlike the musical mushmouth of Todd Edwards' garage, Wilson's fragments of voice stay angular and jut out instead of blurring together.
Milyoo's tracks can nevertheless be silky and finessed: "Fieldwork" is definitely the highlight, ambling happily along a path lit with gorgeous synths, like breakbeat house in luxurious slo-mo. Meanwhile, "Pulley" plays with the same slow house tropes but slows them way down, motion-sick and wading through a churning whirlpool. Quieter moments like "Swoon" and "Down Like You" hesitantly play with melodies in jerky, awkward movements, as if afraid to form any conceivable melody. It again brings to mind any number of IDM influences—the sound of machines gone wrong, of scripted randomness—and opens Wilson's music up to an array of further interpretations beyond just "bass music."
The sounds Milyoo uses are many and disparate, soundbites that should clash but rarely do in his capable hands. It's detail-heavy, extremely idiosyncratic stuff that might border on frustratingly impenetrable if Milyoo wasn't so good at condensing them down into three-minute chunks. He may not have gotten all the way to proper house music, but the place he ends up on Archeology is pretty damn interesting either way.
Tracklist 01. Face To Face
02. Dasein
03. Field Work
04. Pulley
05. Colours
06. Tough Enough
07. Swoon
08. Down Like You
09. Get Some
10. Windows To Love