XYZ - Iglooghost, Kai Whiston & Babii: Review
is a British electronic music producer signed to Flying Lotus' Brainfeeder records who began making waves in 2015 with a series of unique EP's that pushed the boundary of experimental electronic music interpolating heavy sampling and drum and bass music. Iglooghost released his debut record Neo Wax Bloom in 2017 and followed it up in 2018 with a pair of EP's that also received critical praise. He has settled down now to independently release this collaborative record with frequent collaborators Kai Whiston and Babii after releasing two singles earlier this year.
Review By Lavender:
Since I was first turned on to Iglooghosts 2015 EP Chinese Nu Year I have really enjoyed just about everything he has done to date. His 2017 record Neo Wax Bloom was such a captivating breath of life for electronic music that carried on the excellent artistic progression I was so looking forward to and landed a pretty solid spot on my albums of the year list. Just last year he found his way onto my EP's and singles list once again with the excellent Steel Mogu and its shining moment Niteracer. Given that I have enjoyed nearly everything he has dropped up to this point and that I really enjoyed this collaborations lead single Lockii I had high expectations and the record lived up to them pretty favorably.
The only true lulls in the records 8 full length tracks are when the pace is slowed down and the influence of what makes the producers involved so unique is faded out. Drown U is the first of these moments and it comes a little to early in the record to be a true change of pace moment. The track has a few decent breakdown moments but overall it just lacks what makes so many of these songs interesting. C Thru is a little bit of an improvement that comes at a better time on the record but I could still imagine this just being an EP that doesn't feature the more slow paced songs at all. The final song that I'm a little shaky on is the closing track and the albums second single Lamb. The song starts off with a proper verse from Babii that isn't cut up or manipulated much at all before transitioning, albeit slowly, into a more conventional Iglooghost style track. The song plays it very safe right at the end of the record that makes for a decent but predictable ending.
Aside from these tracks, pretty much everything else here is very solid. Lux 2 is a killer track to effectively open up the record with some great lead vocals from Babii mixed all around this swirling up-tempo beat. The vocals get spliced up across the track in some awesome ways that lead the song through multiple tempo changes, only to introduce new great elements each time it fades back into its core refrain. Lockii was the albums great lead single which. Lasts some great squelchy synths and great crackling percussion that provides a steady build for a futuristic mind-bending banger. Mau Shit has sone psychedelic Flume style synths right at its core and pairs them with some genuinely haunting vocals for a really abstract experience. The hardest hitting moments here even feel almost industrial in their assault on the ears, but ultimately it returns to the bright and jittery blend of explosive sounds Iglooghost works with so well.
Teef Chizzel is both one of the best names for a song I've heard all year as well as one of the shortest songs on the record. It sounds like a crazy blend of styles and seems to pull heavily from Jamie xx's In Colour. The sweet and straightforward Babii vocals on the song are a nice touch and this is another short and interesting piece of the record. Finally Barely Twins gets off to a slow start with an annoying sample of Babii shouting getting played rapid fire over and over again with basically no change. But it gets much MUCH better ones Iglooghost starts mixing in some more wild and shrill sounds that I wouldn't even know how to try and describe. There is an absolutely KILLER syncopated key line in this track that is one of the catchiest things I've ever heard Iglooghost make to date and by the end of this track it's one of my favorite on the entire record.
XYZ is a short but fun series of tracks that bring together the sounds of three artists well into a unique swirl of jittery electonica that you won't hear anywhere else this year. While I'd like something a little bit more fleshed out in the future whats here is mostly good and should definitely be on the radar of experimental electronica fans. 7/10
