Paul Blackford – Directive 4 on Battery Park Studios
Militant Science commander in chief Blackford follows up his superb Smileys Dream EP with this fresh 3 tracker on Battery Park Studios.
Opening salvo Let it Ride is a fluid morphing roller, tight edits and gated cuts snapping through the cosmic background textures. The bassline providing the dark matter between the orbiting beats, the ideal soundtrack for deep space battles in your mind.
Back to earth for Directive 4, ridiculously deep subs kick from the off, driving the track into the fast lane. A lean, twitched-out lock and pop jam that drags you into its slipstream. Driven by switching rapid fire synth riffs the tune seems to accelerate along its linear trajectory.
Final cut The Sequel completes the trip by submerging the listener in a deceptively comfortable soundscape. As the track spreads out, it becomes increasingly disorientating. The crystalline synth riff feels more like a concentrated data transmission than a musical motif, reprogramming the nervous system to accommodate the advanced data and translate it into physical movement.
There are relatively few producers in the current “electro” scene that have an instantly recognisable sound, it is all too easy to go over old ground in a genre so torn between fetishising the past and actually progressing in sonic outlook.
Paul Blackford is one of the few producers out there with a clear vision of what tomorrow could sound like.
Grab
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Paul Blackford – Let it Ride
Paul Blackford – Directive 4
Paul Blackford – The Sequel
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