in the spirit of transparency i’ll come clean, in 2008/2009 the influx of promo cds to ireallylovemusic has become a trickle. however despite what you may think, such a situation is not all bad, it gives me time and space to rediscover music i actually want to invest my time and energy into.
not only that, i rarely flex the power of the blog and go on the traditonal blag, however earlier this week i decided to do just that for the first time in ages.
you see, following the recent lovefest for the rebotini album i tracked down the relevant people and asked if there were copies of the recent toob album given that it came out on the same label, process recordings.
a matter of hours later and the cd was in my player making me a happy happy man.
released very quietly late last year, pull me, pull you, is the duos second album, and according to the catalogue number, the 109th cd that process recordings have released !
[after some thought, i remembered that the process have picked up the output recordings catalogue which just made it to #100 before calling it a day, so it looks like process are continuing the story ..]
comprising of two blokes, rich thair and jakeone, the band make headphone friendly electronic pop music, with jakeone having a vocal style that provides mental connections to colder in the use of spoken/sung disconnected moods, thus giving an indication as to the direction that the label hopes to go in, albeit in a more subtle nature as opposed to trevor jacksons media rattling overload game plan that he enjoyed while at the helm for output recordings.
opening with a stylistic red herring in the shape of the sampledelica sunrise ibiza grooves of treetop frequency, the albums first real highpoint kicks in with clipto, a delightful combination of twisted sarcastic lyrical weirdness, thrustful punk-funk beat, 80s plastic horns, and a big fat bass line straight out of the shriekback catalogue, making this one a surefire dance floor filler should the right people get to hear it.
other highlights include the excellent atmospheric electro-throb of unsound skin that has the same depth in sonic production as the best tracks by trentmoller, while maintaining a groove that would keep lovers of minimal electronic music popping, the ambient techno dub beauty of mr brown, the 8 minute electro-disco of dervish angel proving that toob have been checking out the deep sonics of people like swayzak.
however, it’s when the guys dive into the history books (whether they realise it or not is a different matter) and exhume the aural reference points of jam science era shriekback that really hit home with me, this unexpected treat is repeated on the twanged up offset (swamp mix) with more of those bass lines, frustrated vocals, and an urgent need for pop related chaos.
then just as you think you have the album under control, a massive curve ball is thrown into the mix in the form of the acidic excess of by hand.
after 2 and half minutes of excellent synth clash, comes that old school hip hop beat – last sampled by dizzee rascal in fix up look sharp, it’s a mad moment, but one that works brilliantly. then, in a way that makes this feel like a proper album, they close the 55 minutes with another slice of trip hopped out, bleep happy ambient techno gorgeousness, the toob show, after which the listener cannot help but feel warm and fuzzy.
all in all, had i heard this album when released, i would have definitely dropped in my end of year list for 2008.
more detail : here – – process recordings