Hand Picked Fragments

Skanfrom's collection Hand-Picked Fragments is so synthetic that it sounds like a soundtrack to the new wave film Liquid Sky. And that's most definitely the intention. For four years, Skanfrom has been recording some of the most exuberant synth pop in the electronic world, and this disc compiles a number of his tracks from 1998 to 2001. Many tracks included are unreleased and alternate takes originally put out by the A.D.S.R. label. Hand-Picked Fragments is a most welcome addition to the Suction catalog, a label known for its boundary-pushing approach to electro-pop. Certain references like Kraftwerk and John Foxx pop up all the time on Suction's records, but they are always brilliant reinterpretations of the foundations that those artists laid. Like his labelmates Solvent and Lowfish, Skanfrom is intensely dedicated to the perfect beat, using robotic squiggles and flickers to form a dancefloor groove like no other. Skanfrom combines repetitious samples with classic drum box sounds and stark, analog synth flutters, crafting perfect pop music with pure machine soul. He breathes life back into what used to be soulless tools of fascination. It's impossible to not recall the swervy sounds of early Human League and Fad Gadget when listening to Hand-Picked Fragments, but the innocent approach here suggests that those earlier artists almost never existed. Every track on this disc seems so fresh and new that Skanfrom, though steeped in archaic technology, has opened up a world of possibilities for electronic musicians. ~ Ken Taylor|