NEDRY - CONDORS
August 19, 2009,
Written by Tim Boddy
Label: On The Shelf Records
Release date: (10/08/09)
Website: Nedry - Myspace
Buy: Amazon
Laptop music one would consider as a genre in it's infancy, though rapidly maturing. Many aspiring electronic types that fart synths and piss bits spend their days huddled away from daylight in murky bedrooms - certainly opening up the democratic process in music creation terms; the result of this being you of course are going to have to sort through the sub-par to get to the good stuff. In some cases though, you stumble upon a sound that becomes genre defining; Hello Nedry.
Nedry consist of electronic creative stalwarts Ekocam and Earthkeptwarm, recently rejoined by Ayu Okakita on vocals for some added beauty and depth. Condors is their genre-bridging debut mini-album that sounds hugely refreshing, giving your soul a slap and a shake. Firmly entrenched in camp electronica, it’s the synergy of disquieting minimal soundscapes in tandem with a grimey beat-driven undertone that captures the attention of mind and body respectively.
Once opener A42 fully takes off after 30 seconds all this becomes apparent. There’s a beautiful and electronic side in akin to Esben & The Witch – with the crucial twist of a dub-step-infused heavy bass, coupled with breaks, which should have listeners enthralled, complete with whip-lash inducing head-bobbing. All this with Ayu’s sweet vocals over the top, leaving notes hanging in the air, Portishead style, waiting to be grabbed by the beats wrapped around them.
It’s the attention to detail, the nuances, that will have you sticking around for multiple listens, racking up your Last.fm chart with Nedry plastered all over. More-ish as a pint of heroin. The whole album boasts this ethos – everything seems significant, perhaps Apples and Pears sums it up in a microcosm, even more specifically at a glorious bass-drop 2:43 in.
Mid-way through the track, the gentle, ethereal sound appears to fade-out completely having been brewing for a couple of minutes – then all of a sudden - BAM - timed to precision is a blast of dirty, break-beat induced spine-tingling electronics. In base humanistic terms, it simply feels good.
Fans of Deerhunter will empathise with this gut-wrenching feeling that occurs at 2:25 in Microcastle. Spacious and eerie in mood and style, it is as Jarvis once said, the "Sound of loneliness turned up to 10".
Influence wise, Condors on the other hand throws in further curve-balls, a Battles reference with edgy guitars here, a quality of Thom Yorke Eraser there, as the pacey drum loops and synths charge on regardless. Adrenaline-soaked, monumental instrumental track Scattered stretches reference points further – verging on a drum and bass undertone, double-time drums a go-go taking up the momentum of a run-away train that should have the most statue-esque of people at least moving one appendage.
Squid Cat Battle features a hypnotic, huge bass; the kind of bass that makes your organs knock about into each other in a mass vibration of spasmodic joy (hopefully not hitting the ‘Brown Note’). It’s hard not to scream Fat!! spelt incorrectly, yeah?
Taken on the whole, it’s an elective journey of Bjork proportions, one which is bold and outstanding – think Efterklang if they were to drive into an urban nightmare, have a manic creative fit, a nervous breakdown, and compose a beautiful soundtrack to it.
Nedry is the sound of floating through an inner-city in the tiny, delicate hours of the morning, your body not ready to switch off, still reverberating with urban noises calmly washing over you, post-club beats still pulsating through your veins. Slightly disquieting, yet definitely beautiful post-night-out music for the post-generation. Go get.
Rating: 9/10
MP3: Nedry - Condors
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