An opening salvo of harpsichords and strings does not deceive me, for this is a Schematic record and Schematic records are usually two things; electronicalish and good. Feel the power of my language peasants.

So Phlex puts himself in my good books by weirding me out with this peculiar pseudo classical intro but as predicted we swiftly head in to fidgety electronica. Processing power is such nowadays that a huge amount of data can be adjusted and played with while making tracks / tunes / songs / beats. I think in some respects that this is a great thing. It means there are no limits to what you can achieve but the converse is also true. It is possible to make any sound into any other sound and get totally lost in pitch bending, time stretching and Ableton-ising your music.

The first two songs are exemplary of both these schools of thought with Atta Atta being restrained and concise and Rost Beef being a pointless mess. And this is a taste of things to come on this record. When Phlex knows what he wants to do he sounds great, being a little like Clark in his choice of sounds and heavy editing (and somewhat surreal take on dance music). This is heavily evident on “Beckett” with its fat acid stabs, compulsive and funky techno-esque beats which slowly devolves into a noisy and obtuse breakdown before losing its mind altogether and becoming a melodramatic theme tune from some black and white action sequence. Possibly about a man with a large evil moustache who has captured a lady and is busily tying her to some train tracks. Fucking mental, fucking brilliant. This kind of Clark inspired genius rears its head again on “Fiesser” but not everything on this album has the same impact, with some tracks failing to leave any lasting impression despite repeated listens. “Atta Atta” is a good record and is definitely worth buying, but with some focus and fewer songs it would have been brilliant.

http://schematicmusiccompany.bandcamp.com/album/atta-atta-2

Kim Monaghan 

About Kim Monaghan

Kim is reviews editor here at Sitting Now, Overlord at http://daddytank.co.uk, and member of the shadowy League of Cat Fanciers: Birmingham division.

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