David Psutka AKA Egyptrixx is a man with an illustrious past. With every single one of his releases, the long-time Night Slugs collaborator and Halocline Trance label head has displayed not only an effortless understanding of the genres he seeks to work with, but also a boundary breaking vision of how he can make them his own. From the zany club outings of his 2010 to 2011 releases with Night Slugs to the more restrained and conceptualised LPs of recent years, each record has been a milestone in the development of this most remarkable musician — his latest album being no exception.
‘Pure, Beyond Reproach’ is something of an abstract name for many initially unfamiliar, would-be listeners but it’s nevertheless this abstract choice of wording that serves as an indication of what its ten tracks hold in store. Finding a home on the Torontian producer’s Halocline Trance imprint as its fourth offering, it sits comfortably among the gritty, industrial techno, synth and drone explorations of the label’s preceding releases; certainly not failing to live up to its press release description as ‘an exercise in physical sound’.
With the LP largely falling into two distinct parts, Egyptrixx opts for a gentler series of opening tracks to help ease his listeners in with five mostly motionless, gleaming synth led productions providing an enchanting introduction. It’s perhaps with the album’s leading track, ‘Lake of Contemplation, Pool of Fundamental Bond’, that listeners can be the most enthralled up to this point, with the presence of a delicate, trickling water sample occupying pride of place and coming to punctuate many of the album’s remaining tracks.
In sharper contrast, Egyptrixx opts for a different direction on his B-side as multi-layered, jolted percussion, eerie chimes and jagged edged synths take precedent and fuse to create something all the more menacing. With tracks like ‘Plastic Pebble’, ‘Anodyne Wants to Ammo’ and ‘Baby How Strong Are We’ helping to embody the sound of Night Slugs’ glory days — a time when their playful takes on UK funky, grime, dubstep, techno and just about everything in between reigned supreme — it seems as though Psutka wants to reassure us that he’s not about to shrug off his love for making bold and hard-hitting club geared music any time soon, as he continues to make use of new influences and techniques for his work.
8/10
Words: Sofia Leadbetter
– – –
– – –
