Relcad (Seattle producer Alex Duff) reminds us that
there are probably dozens of local electronic musicians making tracks
in seclusion, rarely if ever playing out and constitutionally unsuited
for flinging their wares and themselves to the media and promoters. (A
Google search reveals that no media outlets save for The
Stranger have written about Relcad. Huh.) He’s been creating
excellent electronic joints for years, but only in about the last eight
months has he come to my attention. Better late than never.
Relcad’s latest full-length, The Dumb Thing (available
at www.relcad.com), gently eases
you into it with “Leaf Voices,” a gorgeous swirl of Terry Riley organ
and angelic synth sighs. “Untitled” introduces light, skipping beats
and tranquilly pulsing synths, recalling the more introverted, cerebral
end of minimal techno’s ghostly splendor. “Secret Cloak” weaves cryptic
vocal utterances; ominous, reverbed percussion; and what sounds like a
pachinko machine looped with Philip Glass–like obsessiveness into
a streamlined, low-key 4/4 matrix, deftly merging musique
concrète and stripped-down techno. “Non Sequitor” sounds like a
Martian’s interpretation of techno, its strangely distorted voices and
muted, oscillating keyboards sending ripples of disquiet through you.
“The Dumb Thing” puts forth the rarefied concept of microsound dub,
similar to what ex-Seattle producer Son of Rose achieves on his All
In CD. The nearly 13-minute “More Every Day” closes the disc with
diaphanous, stratospheric techno reminiscent of Wolfgang Voigt’s Gas
works. This track really should grace Kompakt Records’ next Pop
Ambient compilation.
As for fellow Seattleite PotatoFinger (aka Eli
Hetrick), his Upkeep EP (Pleasure Boat, www.pleasureboatrecords.com)
is an excellent follow-up to Futzing, an album enthusiastically
reviewed in Data Breaker five months ago. Upkeep starts with
“Casual Dubble,” a striking foray into dubstep that’s suffused in
piquant Far East Asian–sounding tones and percussion. “Corn
Flakes Are Preferred” purveys clipped, fractured future funk in the
vein of J Dilla and Prefuse 73, but with rippling warped bass
frequencies again alluding to dubstep protocol. The deep, aquatic
ambience of “Granule Is Slippery” leads into “Hazardous Descent,” a
brutal, hammering dubstep/drill & bass cut. Such radical
juxtapositions typify PotatoFinger’s restless creativity, which is
reinforced with “Subtle,” whose beautiful, orchestral funk evokes
Boards of Canada in the way that it’s incredibly moving yet so
undemonstrative. Upkeep solidifies PotatoFinger’s standing as
one of this city’s most imaginative producers.
Recommended shows: hiphop iconoclasm with Themselves,
Linda and Ron’s Dad, WD4D, Filkoe on Thurs July
23, Chop Suey; another gathering of indie-hiphop mavericks with Awol
One, Ceschi, Astronautalis, Filkoe on Fri July
24, Lo-Fi Performance Gallery; basscentric shenanigans and highbrow
sound design from L.A.’s the Glitch Mob, Nosaj Thing,
Daddy Kev on Tues July 28, Neumos. 
