#drone logic

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Daniel Avery - Drone Logic (Drone Logic, 2013)

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TR909 forever

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Daniel Avery ft Kelly Lee Owens - Drone Logic (2014)

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"Knowing We'll Be Here" by Daniel Avery https://ift.tt/1PKx1Xg

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Daniel Avery Album Review: Song For Alpha

BY JORDAN MAINZER

His first album may have been called Drone Logic, but his second, Song For Alpha, is decidedly more minimal. Not necessarily in beats--it’s techno through and through--but in elements making up the songs, and unfortunately, variation. So while a song like “Stereo I” is upbeat, its repeated pseudo-tropical synth line zooming along other synths, it doesn’t so much set the stage for the album as reveal most of its tricks from the get-go. Avery explores motorik beats on “Projector”, “Sensation”, and “Glitter”, but those songs’ other aspects aren’t enough to distract from the click-clacks and thuds of the percussion. And opener “First Light” and “Days From Now” each use soft, muted synth tones as their main focus, making ambient interludes like “TBW17″ straight up unnecessary. From what do we really need a break or transition? And when Avery does use drones, meanwhile, he does so in ways more eerily explored by someone like William Basinski or Tim Hecker, as on the propulsive and buggy “Sensation”, “Embers”, or the crunchy “Citizen_Nowhere”.

The two standout tracks on Alpha are “Diminuendo” and “Slow Fade” because--you guessed it--they do something different. The softly chugging bass and hand-clap beats of the former mix well with the song’s lurching synthesizers, while the drum line beat and Middle Eastern synth melody of the latter make the washes of noise on the song a welcome variation in texture. But those moments are few and far between on an album that’s also just too long for its own good. 9-minute closer “Quick Eternity”--almost too tongue-in-cheek--combines vocals and triangle percussion on a track that can’t decide whether it’s disco or techno. Ultimately, I could see Alpha play better as a live set than an album. It does make you move. But unlike Drone Logic, whose mesh of acid house and techno was inspired, Song For Alpha doesn’t make you think.

6.1/10

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Drone Logic, Daniel Avery (2013)

Daniel Avery’s techno is far more than just any average run-of-the-mill plateau of predictable beats. With a certain minimalist originality and a thorough sense of ambient experimentation, Drone Logic exults all the subtle, intelligent traits that compelling electronic music can, with a slight lo-fi edge. Like few house-producers, Avery concentrates painstakingly on his ambience– realising how crucial it is in making his beats and key changes heavier despite their relatively downtempo nature.

Alongside this ambience is a lush, psychedelic acid house influence that plunges the listener into the beats, adding another level of depth to the bass-driven beats. Avery’s breaks from this acid are experimental too, whether it’s the distorted non-descript noise of ‘Free Floating’, the vocal inputs of Kelly Lee Owens on the titular track or the ghostlike vocal sample on ‘Water Jump’. Another clear influence on Avery is that of Aphex Twin. The Richard D. James Album and Selected Ambient Works 85-92 are clearly heard on Drone Logic, though are developed into a more unique sound with far more layering and faster phasing. Avery packs his tracks not just with a multitude of layers, but with vast numbers of phases too.

Drone Logic is a strong debut, distinctive and with enough heaviness and memorability to be worth returning to. Avery’s blend of microhouse, techno, acid-house and dark ambience somehow makes for an album both crowded and isolated, wallowing in its brief pits of silence and then thumping through with the louder moments.

Pick: ‘Water Jump’

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Pigalle

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"Knowing We'll Be Here" by Daniel Avery http://ift.tt/1PKx1Xg