Basteroid - Clavilux

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  • Areal has kept pretty quiet of late, and so has one of its three co-founders, Basteroid. (The other two are Konfekt and Metope.) After staying busy through 2008, last year Areal issued only one 12-inch; Basteroid, meanwhile, hasn't put anything out in three years. A lot has changed since the label's mid-'00s heyday, but one nice thing about Basteroid's new 12-inch is that he doesn't sound too audibly concerned with adjusting to fashion—even if both sides are congruent with plenty in 2010. It helps that "Clavilux" has the kind of bouncy bassline that's come back into favor thanks to the ongoing mid-'80s-ization of dance music generally. That was the time when Bernard Edwards of Chic—either as session player or influence—had become the default mode for bassists. Edwards' fill-all-the-pockets style is on display here to rather good effect—it adds some jump to a track that isn't lacking for energy. The arrangement's shifts are logical and enticing—glassy organ and booming tom-tom programming fit for a "Coma Cat" crowd, but more head-down. On the B, "Thicket" is a little weirder and more electro; sci-fi-FX wows and rise-fall volume during the beatless parts give it an enticingly cheap flavor, but there's a nice depth here, thanks in part to drums that lean on the electro-toms and a nicely deployed arsenal of fishtank bubbly noises.
  • Tracklist
      A Clavilux B Thicket
RA