Bleep

In early 2020, electronic genius Aleksi Perälä released the Spectrum series of albums, online-only releases of unadulterated explorations in rhythm and tone. As many treats as the series certainly hosts, it’s understood that finding the time to experience each one isn’t always a given. Spectrum Analysis provides a solution to the problem of so-much-music-so-little-time by cherry-picking fourteen of the finest cuts from Perälä’s vast and prolific project.

Perälä’s uncanny sense for subtly evolving loops are the driving force of this collection, even as the textural quality of each work varies from the cosmic mist to gravelly hardness, by turns swirling like a cartwheel galaxy and a cement mixer. Popping drum machines flit and flutter according to an eschewed house sensibility, sometimes morphing into something like a kuduro rhythm, as basslines vary from bubbly acidity to virtually non-existent in the moments where Perälä allows the twinkling high end to do all the talking. Each track is simply titled with a factory-code-like series of letters and numbers, implying that Perälä makes such striking music with the velocity and sheer aptitude of an automaton.

Spectrum Analysis is a marvel of modern electronic music, a collection to be treasured alongside the genre’s greatest.