Matrixxman – Homesick

...a taskmaster of metronomic tech-house and techno

Breaking free from dodging bullets in slo-mo, the scientifically minded Matrixxman – real name Charles Duff – is a taskmaster of metronomic tech-house and techno, and pressurised dramas caught from light years away.

Atmospherically Duff can be exceptional, with widescreen visions trying to keep the Motor City devil off his shoulder, and ambient crises requiring the correct coloured wire be cut where the fate of the spacestation depends on 'Annika's Theme'. Conversely he's a stark and meaty kick drum operator. 'Switchblade' is brandished, twisted oscilloscopes and mathematical synth lines fire 'Network Failure' and 'False Pattern Recognition', and the Trumpton alarm bells that ring through 'Opium Den' blow tech-house open like it's a bust.

It's the acid-electro doodles lead by 'Red Light District' and 'HMU' that alter momentum; with their weight differential, they contribute to making the album admit it's a collection of futurebound 12"s not quite there as an album. This is after the impressively enormous 'Necronomicon' makes a strong opening statement of pulsing anxiety , picturing Ripley playing hard and seek with her Alien chums and generating pregnant anticipation for what seems like forever. 'Homesick' peaks and troughs, stiltedly, not saved by Duff's admission/disclaimer that "the titles correlate to distinct, separate scenes."

It can arrest large scale arenas, and Matrixxman's Swiss Army Knife game is indisputable, though it's often used as a plot twist that's not necessarily relatable to the original story. One quick and thoroughly modern shuffle later, and you've got two dance suites that can work very well together side by side.

7/10

Words: Matt Oliver

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