- There is a small group of electronic music tracks that transcend genre and time, compositions that never grow old or lose their resonance. From my perspective, "Altered States" is one such landmark release, as is UR's "The Final Frontier" or "Phylps Trak II." In more recent years, just as it becomes easier and easier to make music, so has it become more and more difficult to find defining releases—surely there's a sociologist out there willing to document this phenomenon in a thesis?—although "Psychotic Photosynthesis" or Portable's "Release" are unique sounding.
With Social Engineering, Sherard Ingram's Urban Tribe project has joined this small elite. While "Sabotage Clique" is a dense, intense, bleepy electro breaks affair—inspired no doubt by a Stingray DJ set—"Gencon" sees Ingram step back in time with spacey, wide-eyed synths, similar in sound to Brown Album-era Orbital.
The atmospheric "Gencon" also serves to set the mood for Ingram's coup de grace, "Her." Like most great pieces of music, it contains just a few elements, but the buzzing acidic riffs and jarring breaks combined with a soulful female vocal singing "my fantasy" on repeat has a special, albeit intangible quality. Maybe it's Kenny Dixon jnr's influence—whom it is rumoured will be accompanying Ingram on tour later this year—but irrespective of its background, "Her" shines brighter than any star in the firmament.
Tracklist A1 Her
A2 Gencon
B1 Shambling Masses
B2 Sabotage Clique