Outlaltuo - JANACIDPATCHES&SEQUENCES

 

Released: February 23

This album isn’t a long one, but it’s quite a fun one. Filled with all the fun bleeps, bloops, and acid basslines that marked the early days of electronic with a bit of a modern twist. Most of the album stays in the mid to high energy range and keeps things pretty light. It all kind of reminds me of that period in the 90s when flash cartoons and games ruled the internet’s and happy techno was the prevailing mood. But as I said, there’s quite a bit of modern twist on this album and it is definitely more than just a throwback to earlier days. 

Along with the bouncy beats and basses, there’s a heavy glitch element to all of this as well. These glitch elements show up early in the album, making things fun and weird about halfway through the first track “MonPATcH+6am.” And yes, all the titles have the same erratic naming scheme that gives them a little extra bit of charm. The beat starts out high energy and bouncy, then about halfway through the track, it stutters and struggles repeatedly before launching right back into the upbeat and almost dance-y vibes. Some tracks lean a lot more heavily into the glitch like “Hadfield Acid,” which is coincidentally one of my absolute favorites here. It’s got the real old school Squarepusher sound in the synths but it takes the vibe to a more absurd extreme in its glitched out angle. It sometimes feels like it’s barely holding together while also feeling incredibly high energy at the same time. 

Even though it’s just five tracks,  JANACIDPATCHES&SEQUENCES feels much longer and brings a lot more frenetic energy than it should. The combination of this throwback 90s techno vibe and this modern glitch messiness is a fun little ride. It tickles nostalgia and ears at the same time with varying degrees of clarity and weirdness.