I always want to be dismissive of this kind of stuff—the bedroom dubstep-etc. beloved of indie crossover dreams, college radio, nu-IDM—until I put it on again. Half of this four-song EP is already familiar if you know Crooks and Lovers. But they help make give the EP a coherency: "Night Blind Errand" and "Before I Move Off" act as a kind of terra firma for the two other tracks, vivid recastings of songs from the first Mount Kimbie EP.
"William (Dayglo Mix)" (previewed on Mount Kimbie's excellent RA Podcast) features a bassline that sounds like it was scored by following the movements of a Super Mario Brothers videogame—it flips, loop-de-loops, darts, wows and bobs. Even when it's relatively quiet—for much of the middle even before a short breakdown—the bass keeps you on your toes in anticipation of it going off again, and its cartooniness makes a nice pair with all the videogame and scratch noises, as well as the relatively pacific synth pads.
The version of "Maybes" here, recorded at Berghain, billows big in thanks to cloudy echo on the trebly, stammering vocal snippets, and to fuzzy guitar chords and gong samples. I can't say how much of it was planned and how much was done on the fly, but it was clearly the right amount of each.
Tracklist: Mount Kimbie - Blind Night Errand
01. Blind Night Errand
02. Before I Move Off
03. William (Dayglo Mix)
04. Maybes (Live at Berghain)
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