- For its first release, the London label Wavey Tones showcased a relatively unknown producer, Emma, whose debut offered an appealing mix of classic, Rephlex-style melodies and contemporary, UK funky-influenced drums. Now, Wavey Tones turns to DMX Krew, AKA Ed DMX, a Rephlex veteran (and proprietor of his own label, Breakin' Records) who has been turning out vintage-inspired electro funk and synth pop since 1994.
Clarity and sweetness are the main operating principles here, across four tracks that variously recall Metro Area, Osborne and Todd Terje. "Mustard Parasol" is as much "song" as "track," with rotating synthesizer leads trading off in a quasi-verse-chorus-verse pattern, and a naïve 303 melody somersaulting above soft arpeggios and a gentle robo-disco bassline. It's a dizzy, delightful thing, certainly the most outgoing track on the record; "Decaying World," as you might guess from the title, is darker, but almost as catchy, and it has an even more expansive sense of structure, with a bassline reminiscent of Metro Area's "Miura" blossoming into wide-open jazzy space disco.
"Flat Rate" and "Three Days of Entropy" both employ snapping, syncopated electro grooves, but neither sound quite like classic electro as we're used to it, even given the distinctly Drexciya-like arpeggio that worms its way through "Three Days of Entropy"—they're softer, milkier, more light-hearted. That's especially true of "Flat Rate," whose tremolo lead evokes kazoo-grade levels of whimsy, even as cartoonish bass zaps snap their jaws below.
Tracklist A1 Mustard Parasol
A2 Decaying World
B1 Flat Rate
B2 Three Days of Entropy