Legowelt - Vaporware Tracks Vol. 1

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  • Legowelt's first EP of 2015 contains few surprises, but his familiar fingerprint is still striking. The melodies create a humid, forest-like atmosphere thick with colour. Spring-loaded drums, stiff but not brittle, beat away. The track titles are dutifully daft and/or obscure ("Norwegian Crack Dealer," "Satierian Moon Breeze"). The elements are well-known—perhaps so much so that the casual record buyer might dismiss it as "another Legowelt record"—but Wolfers' imagination, as Vaporware Tracks Vol. 1 shows, is as fertile as ever. "Norwegian Crack Dealer" is a rubbery six minutes of layered synths and bleeps that bump up against each other like subway commuters at rush hour—only a whistling note manages to rise clear of the friction. "XYZ Southwest British Airlines" leads, like "Norwegian Crack Dealer," with a looping, whistle-like melody, but the mood is a little more serious. Dramatic synth pads bear down on drums and tambourines that bob up and down in unison, accompanied by the occasional streak of acid. It cuts off suddenly, and cruelly, in the middle of a break. The EP winds down a little upon "Satierian Moon Breeze"'s arrival, which is propelled by a set of breakbeat drums and filtered vocals pushed deep into a mix of big, translucent pads and thin acid trails. "Satierian Moon Breeze" benefits from the more relaxed, spacious approach Legowelt lends it. "The Sea Is So Silent," a ravey warehouse track in Legowelt clothing, reverts to the Dutchman's more typically rail-straight drums. It's the most banging record on the EP, but, because it's a bit less cluttered, it's also the one that leaves the most lasting impression.
  • Tracklist
      A1 Norwegian Crack Dealer A2 XYZ Southwest British Airways B1 Satierian Moon Breeze B2 The Sea Is So Silent
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