Ital

DREAM ON (Planet Mu)

18/20

In a genre that’s seriously lacking in solid, consistent artist albums, this is as good an electronic dance record that you’re going to hear this year. After witnessing Ital’s dynamic live show in the summer, it’s exciting to see that this record translates the intensity that Brooklyner Daniel Martin-McCormick lays down at his sets. This is exemplified by the variation in live set lynchpin Boi and the intense, brooding Enrique. To rigidly categorize the abstract, insane sound of Ital’s sound samples as techno would be a real disservice. Highpitched screeches collide against warbled, twisted vocal samples and long drawn-out synth lines, often simultaneously. The ironically titled What A Mess in particular sums up the intensity of the sound. Often verging on noise music, but leaving just enough sparsity and melody between the composite parts as not to alienate fans of the dancefloor, the seven tracks on this album make one of the fullest exploration of the electronic zeitgeist in recent memory. Even when Ital breaks into a more accessible house style on album closer Deep Cut, it’s done with a quality beyond many of his contemporaries, and with an array of sound far beyond them too.

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Words: Thomas Frost