Known artiste - OMNI ENCODE

 Released: March 23

The latest album from known artiste is a fun little amalgam of mid-to-late 90’s PSX vibes and late breaks. It has all the personality of a demo disc with the slight hint of camp you might find in a promotional video for a sugar-laden soda. Bright colorful synth and hazy samples form the foreground as a steady diet of smooth breakbeats make the base of each track, no ambient stuff on this one aside from some influence in the pads. It’s all quite tightly produced but still leaves that misty haze all over everything long after the last synth stab echoes away. 

The album starts off pretty subtle with “Hi-Lites,” a track that starts off rather ambient but switches up gradually as the first drum beat slips into the mix. By midway through the track, we’re fully immersed in the vibe with smooth basslines and a clan beat. One of my favorite tracks on here is the fast-paced “Aristocraft.” It’s something about the random periodic flourishes on the rhythm where it pitches up every so subtly, only pausing the lively place momentarily. Plus, it’s just a fun name. Later, we come to “Fake State,” which has one of the absolute thickest and luscious rhythm sections on the album. It’s punctuated by a plucky little synth tone with just a slight touch of delay on it that makes for the perfect bit of ear candy. 

Later on, we get “Emotive Engine,” which another nice brain-tickler of a track with a thick beat. The synths on this one feel a bit more playful, evoking something a bit more animated and maybe even cartoonish, like a breakbeat MarioKart tune. The album concludes with “Marble Stock,” which moves slightly away from the heavy breaks and more towards an almost bossa nova vibe. The album is, for lack of a better word, just fun. It’s lively in the synths while the smooth breaks keep things nailed down in a particular vibe. The PSX vibes are definitely on display here, evoking those nostalgic lo-res polygons from the first note.