Airhead
Lightness
Boomkat Product Review:
Airhead's first proper release in years finds him returning to Hemlock with a set of uptempo but deviously skeletal D&B reductions that bake euphoric, jazz-handed melodies and soundsystem-rupturing subs into carbonated, microscopic beat lattices. Features a guest appearance from Nico Muhly.
Billed as a shift into new sonic territory, 'Lightness' won't surprise anyone who's been following Airhead's output since his early IDM-flecked dubstep inversions. Here, the tempo has been pushed up a few notches, but the philosophy is unchanged. And just as he, alongside James Blake, minimized the aggy energy of the dance by inserting sun-bleached fluff and tweaky DAW designs between the drops, he removes some of D&B's weight here, reworking familiar rhythms with the goofiness of a tap dancing mouse. 'Break In' bounces cheerfully jazzy guitar with a pitter-patter of ping pong ball percussion; Airhead's not using glitches exactly, but it sounds as if he's chopped each beat into a brittle reminder of what it used to be. The kick drum is a paper-thin flick, barely backing up bottle top snares and feather-light hats. But he's smartly reserved a swathe of sonic space for the subs, that appear and dominate the track, bringing back some of the momentum he's squeezed from the drums.
This basic blueprint is adhered to on most of the tracks. 'Low Gravity' adds a weightless, helium vocal, nodding towards euphoric trance and hyperpop but never completely leaning into the bombast, and 'Salt' brings back some of the hooky melodic content that rooted Airhead's early gear with a grime-y lead couched in celestial e-bowed thrusts. There's more ground ceded to classic D&B on 'Still Waiting for U', with a spiced-up steppers' bump and a plunging '97 bassline, and 'Ghosts in CS' is a clear standout, dragging from toybox synth minimalism into a pitch-fucked, synth-heavy crescendo. Then Airhead teams up with Nico Muhly on 'Unbearable Lightness', who helps orchestrate his harmonic content into blissful widescreen hums that float over the track's scratchy, nails-on-an-iphone roll.
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Boomkat Product Review:
Airhead's first proper release in years finds him returning to Hemlock with a set of uptempo but deviously skeletal D&B reductions that bake euphoric, jazz-handed melodies and soundsystem-rupturing subs into carbonated, microscopic beat lattices. Features a guest appearance from Nico Muhly.
Billed as a shift into new sonic territory, 'Lightness' won't surprise anyone who's been following Airhead's output since his early IDM-flecked dubstep inversions. Here, the tempo has been pushed up a few notches, but the philosophy is unchanged. And just as he, alongside James Blake, minimized the aggy energy of the dance by inserting sun-bleached fluff and tweaky DAW designs between the drops, he removes some of D&B's weight here, reworking familiar rhythms with the goofiness of a tap dancing mouse. 'Break In' bounces cheerfully jazzy guitar with a pitter-patter of ping pong ball percussion; Airhead's not using glitches exactly, but it sounds as if he's chopped each beat into a brittle reminder of what it used to be. The kick drum is a paper-thin flick, barely backing up bottle top snares and feather-light hats. But he's smartly reserved a swathe of sonic space for the subs, that appear and dominate the track, bringing back some of the momentum he's squeezed from the drums.
This basic blueprint is adhered to on most of the tracks. 'Low Gravity' adds a weightless, helium vocal, nodding towards euphoric trance and hyperpop but never completely leaning into the bombast, and 'Salt' brings back some of the hooky melodic content that rooted Airhead's early gear with a grime-y lead couched in celestial e-bowed thrusts. There's more ground ceded to classic D&B on 'Still Waiting for U', with a spiced-up steppers' bump and a plunging '97 bassline, and 'Ghosts in CS' is a clear standout, dragging from toybox synth minimalism into a pitch-fucked, synth-heavy crescendo. Then Airhead teams up with Nico Muhly on 'Unbearable Lightness', who helps orchestrate his harmonic content into blissful widescreen hums that float over the track's scratchy, nails-on-an-iphone roll.
Boomkat Product Review:
Airhead's first proper release in years finds him returning to Hemlock with a set of uptempo but deviously skeletal D&B reductions that bake euphoric, jazz-handed melodies and soundsystem-rupturing subs into carbonated, microscopic beat lattices. Features a guest appearance from Nico Muhly.
Billed as a shift into new sonic territory, 'Lightness' won't surprise anyone who's been following Airhead's output since his early IDM-flecked dubstep inversions. Here, the tempo has been pushed up a few notches, but the philosophy is unchanged. And just as he, alongside James Blake, minimized the aggy energy of the dance by inserting sun-bleached fluff and tweaky DAW designs between the drops, he removes some of D&B's weight here, reworking familiar rhythms with the goofiness of a tap dancing mouse. 'Break In' bounces cheerfully jazzy guitar with a pitter-patter of ping pong ball percussion; Airhead's not using glitches exactly, but it sounds as if he's chopped each beat into a brittle reminder of what it used to be. The kick drum is a paper-thin flick, barely backing up bottle top snares and feather-light hats. But he's smartly reserved a swathe of sonic space for the subs, that appear and dominate the track, bringing back some of the momentum he's squeezed from the drums.
This basic blueprint is adhered to on most of the tracks. 'Low Gravity' adds a weightless, helium vocal, nodding towards euphoric trance and hyperpop but never completely leaning into the bombast, and 'Salt' brings back some of the hooky melodic content that rooted Airhead's early gear with a grime-y lead couched in celestial e-bowed thrusts. There's more ground ceded to classic D&B on 'Still Waiting for U', with a spiced-up steppers' bump and a plunging '97 bassline, and 'Ghosts in CS' is a clear standout, dragging from toybox synth minimalism into a pitch-fucked, synth-heavy crescendo. Then Airhead teams up with Nico Muhly on 'Unbearable Lightness', who helps orchestrate his harmonic content into blissful widescreen hums that float over the track's scratchy, nails-on-an-iphone roll.
Boomkat Product Review:
Airhead's first proper release in years finds him returning to Hemlock with a set of uptempo but deviously skeletal D&B reductions that bake euphoric, jazz-handed melodies and soundsystem-rupturing subs into carbonated, microscopic beat lattices. Features a guest appearance from Nico Muhly.
Billed as a shift into new sonic territory, 'Lightness' won't surprise anyone who's been following Airhead's output since his early IDM-flecked dubstep inversions. Here, the tempo has been pushed up a few notches, but the philosophy is unchanged. And just as he, alongside James Blake, minimized the aggy energy of the dance by inserting sun-bleached fluff and tweaky DAW designs between the drops, he removes some of D&B's weight here, reworking familiar rhythms with the goofiness of a tap dancing mouse. 'Break In' bounces cheerfully jazzy guitar with a pitter-patter of ping pong ball percussion; Airhead's not using glitches exactly, but it sounds as if he's chopped each beat into a brittle reminder of what it used to be. The kick drum is a paper-thin flick, barely backing up bottle top snares and feather-light hats. But he's smartly reserved a swathe of sonic space for the subs, that appear and dominate the track, bringing back some of the momentum he's squeezed from the drums.
This basic blueprint is adhered to on most of the tracks. 'Low Gravity' adds a weightless, helium vocal, nodding towards euphoric trance and hyperpop but never completely leaning into the bombast, and 'Salt' brings back some of the hooky melodic content that rooted Airhead's early gear with a grime-y lead couched in celestial e-bowed thrusts. There's more ground ceded to classic D&B on 'Still Waiting for U', with a spiced-up steppers' bump and a plunging '97 bassline, and 'Ghosts in CS' is a clear standout, dragging from toybox synth minimalism into a pitch-fucked, synth-heavy crescendo. Then Airhead teams up with Nico Muhly on 'Unbearable Lightness', who helps orchestrate his harmonic content into blissful widescreen hums that float over the track's scratchy, nails-on-an-iphone roll.
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Boomkat Product Review:
Airhead's first proper release in years finds him returning to Hemlock with a set of uptempo but deviously skeletal D&B reductions that bake euphoric, jazz-handed melodies and soundsystem-rupturing subs into carbonated, microscopic beat lattices. Features a guest appearance from Nico Muhly.
Billed as a shift into new sonic territory, 'Lightness' won't surprise anyone who's been following Airhead's output since his early IDM-flecked dubstep inversions. Here, the tempo has been pushed up a few notches, but the philosophy is unchanged. And just as he, alongside James Blake, minimized the aggy energy of the dance by inserting sun-bleached fluff and tweaky DAW designs between the drops, he removes some of D&B's weight here, reworking familiar rhythms with the goofiness of a tap dancing mouse. 'Break In' bounces cheerfully jazzy guitar with a pitter-patter of ping pong ball percussion; Airhead's not using glitches exactly, but it sounds as if he's chopped each beat into a brittle reminder of what it used to be. The kick drum is a paper-thin flick, barely backing up bottle top snares and feather-light hats. But he's smartly reserved a swathe of sonic space for the subs, that appear and dominate the track, bringing back some of the momentum he's squeezed from the drums.
This basic blueprint is adhered to on most of the tracks. 'Low Gravity' adds a weightless, helium vocal, nodding towards euphoric trance and hyperpop but never completely leaning into the bombast, and 'Salt' brings back some of the hooky melodic content that rooted Airhead's early gear with a grime-y lead couched in celestial e-bowed thrusts. There's more ground ceded to classic D&B on 'Still Waiting for U', with a spiced-up steppers' bump and a plunging '97 bassline, and 'Ghosts in CS' is a clear standout, dragging from toybox synth minimalism into a pitch-fucked, synth-heavy crescendo. Then Airhead teams up with Nico Muhly on 'Unbearable Lightness', who helps orchestrate his harmonic content into blissful widescreen hums that float over the track's scratchy, nails-on-an-iphone roll.
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