Crystal Vision

The follow-up to 2020s Blizzards, Nathan Fakes all-hardware career best, Crystal Vision is a spirited set of tracks that gleefully switch between genres and evoke the producers varied inspirations. "The Grass" is a hypnotic, trance-tinged trip that seems to propel Wizard Apprentices detached vocals into space as if theyre inside a rocket. "Vimana" livens up a synth-disco chug with shimmering stardust, and "Boss Core" is a somewhat crooked but propulsive techno stomper made using gear from the 1980s, giving it a bit of a lo-fi crunch. The more psychedelic "Crystal Vision" lets fizzing melodies grow on top of a very "Strawberry Fields Forever"-sounding drum loop, and "Bibled" is a zoned-out breakbeat odyssey with shuffling drums set atop a slower pulse. Even more break-happy is "AMEN 96," a just-for-the-hell-of-it hard jungle track laced with Fakes usual dreamy, sky-gazing synths. Clark guests on the dramatic closing number, "Outsider," which seems like a flashback to the days when progressive house leaders like Sasha and Darren Emerson would team up and produce a massive single together. ~ Paul Simpson

ジェイムズ・ホールデンに見い出されて世に出た若き天才も前作から自身のレーベルに拠点を移し、みずからの作風に磨きをかけて完成させた3年ぶり6作目。"The Glass"のようにいかにも彼らしいシューゲイザー・テクノもあれば、クラークとコラボした"Outsider"では幻想的なエレクトロニカを披露、他にもアーメン・トラックが飛び出すなど、ヴァラエティーに富んだ内容だ。
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