Signaling
Infrasonic Press, 2021
8/10
The veteran musician Jeff Stadelman is well versed in orchestral sounds, and here goes the opposite direction and brings us his first album entirely of electronic music.
“Elektron Boxes” starts the listen with warm keys as buzzing synth enters the playful and bright atmosphere, and “Hawaiian Radio” follows with a nearly sci-fi climate that’s mysterious, unpredictable and approaches videogame-esque territory.
There’s 15 tracks present, and all are quite fun. The middle tracks are among the best, including the dance friendly feel of “Exercise”, while the carnival spirit of “Milwaukee” is a pleasant surprise. “Whelmer”, one of the best tracks, then spends 8 minutes mesmerizing us with its bare moments versus busy manipulation of analog ideas.
Close to the end, “West Of Pound” offers dense synth acrobatics amid charming, frisky percussive sounds, and “Monophony, Michigan” exits the listen with a brief, calm finish of synthetic drumming, faint keys and a surreal backdrop of warmth.
Recorded during the onset of Covid, Stadelman tinkered with these technology based sounds while sequestered away from the world, seemingly reaching out with his minimalistic and artistic formula of looping, beats and hip-hop nods that you’re not likely to forget anytime soon.
Travels well with: Gilles Poizat- Champignon Flamme; Submarine FM- Crawl