Bleep

Outland, the new LP from Ital Tek, picks up where the producer’s previous LP Bodied (2018) left off. Bodied saw the one born Alan Myson retreating somewhat from the dancefloor, his previous preoccupation with footwork and IDM morphing into something more dense and complex. On Outland we hear something similar happening. The names who spring to mind upon first listen here are less club artists and more composers who have used electronic instruments as tools to express some cyberpunk sense of unease about their given age - we’re talking John Carpenter, we’re talking Oneohtrix Point Never, we’re talking Lapalux.

At points across Outland its age-of-uncertainty vibe translates into etherised synth compositions (‘Leaving The Grid’, ‘Endless’) or torrid pieces at once melodic and discordant (‘Open Heart’). These tracks do not foreground their drums, but the same atmospheres persist when Outland’s beats become more prominent. The likes of ‘Oblivion Theme’ and ‘Deadhead’ come off like Rustie or TNGHT being asked to create a track for a Blade Runner reboot, their hyphy hip-hop percussion cloaked in digital fog (there’s also a bit of Yung Gud and Yung Sherman to the washed-out vibe of the former). Elsewhere ‘Bladed Terrain’ is visceral, thrilling and intense, a mutant dancehall joint for the end of the world.

Ital Tek’s new LP Outland is another set of foreboding electronic compositions from this consistently impressive artist.