- Austin Cesear has covered a lot of ground in just a handful of releases. So far he's moved between dark techno, dubbed-out house and a kind of ambient musique concrète, all with no great signs of difficulty, imbuing each new shade with unmistakable character. West Side, a six-track mini-LP and his second proper release on Public Information, does little to disturb this fine run of form.
The opener, "La Paloma," feels weightless and subtly euphoric, a rhythmic cloud of modulating filters, flangers and phasers. It immediately continues what has been Cesear's primary strength to date: small shifts in texture and groove that cause repetitive material to develop over time. Ideas found on the dance floor are taken away, examined and manipulated into something altogether different. Loops are spun over and over, gradually changing shape or tone.
While the tracks themselves rarely progress in any conventional way, Cesear has certainly developed his methods of construction. The sound of tape slipping on a track like "Holly Street," from his Opal Tapes split, is a possible precursor to the unsteady filter work on "Ain't It So (Necessary)," but these tracks feel more carefully designed. The result is a sound that's fuller and deeper than anything in his sparse back catalogue, achieving a little more with a little less. Along with the opener, "Easy Bend" is an obvious highlight. A couple of basic elements—two synth lines, a hi-hat and a subby kick drum—twist together to form a piece of dub-wise perfection. The track's hollowed-out minimalism, stark but warm, recalls Basic Channel without sounding like anything they've done.
Things are a little less interesting when they're more urgent—a problem that affects the final two tracks in particular. "Samarada" feels like it's driving toward something, but when the side-chained vocals come in towards the end, it's hard not to feel a little shortchanged. Cesear's refined approach fails to coalesce into something with its own identity here, leaving you feeling that there's something still missing from the track, a key piece that would unlock its potential. The more laid back tracks, the ones that feel in no hurry to get anywhere or do anything, are the highlights; they could go on forever.
Tracklist01. La Paloma
02. Ain't It So (Necessary)
03. Cloven Hoov
04. Easy Bend
05. Samareda
06. Bee Free (Warlick Mix)