Bleep

Mike Kivits aka Aardvarck, a mainstay of Dutch dance music since the early 1990s, returns with his first album in four years, released as a double-LP via Skudge Records (including a bonus 10" of more experimental ventures). Having worked with techno, house, dubstep, and ambient structures across his broad discography, on Co In Ci he mostly flits between linear techno and amorphous, beatless pieces. The album is defined by its underlying strangeness, but Kivits’ synth work is frequently stunning, like on the uplifting ‘Dief’ or the funky and blissed-out ‘Hob’ (an edit of fellow countryman Martyn’s ‘Vancouver’). These elevating emotional moments are contrasted by instances of melancholy, like the atmospheric ‘Pop’.