What does Theo Parrish have in common with Arrested Development's Lucille Bluth? Both of them, apparently, get off on being withholding. Consider his recent CD releases Sound Signature Sounds Vol. 2 and Uget, which gathered out-of-print tracks for the benefit of collectors who never got them on vinyl, only to treat the music with what must be the muddiest mastering job ever committed to CD.
His Hand Made EP sounds better, in purely sonic terms, but it's a resolutely no-frills affair, particularly on the A-side's "Black Mist," an extended edit of a cut originally released on 2010's hand-pained, absurdly limited Sketches triple-pack. A single drum machine clatters away, banging out a grudging house groove while a gravelly bass synth walks in stoned circles. There's something there that pulls you in, but you'd better be prepared to meet Parrish halfway to find it.
"Pop Off" is even more restrained, doing little more than coughing up a cloud of keys and bells over a shuffling drum groove, and drawing out its uneasy tri-tone harmonies for the length of its seven-minute running time. But the sonics are more vibrant here, and the pulsing chords have a hypnotic way about them; like some of Pepe Bradock's recent material, it manages to balance the uncomfortable with the carefree. "Wild Out" follows similar form, layering indistinct squiggles over nervous arpeggios and a drum machine that sounds like it's been patched into the mixer with jumper cables. Per its title, it's the furthest "out" of all three tracks, but there's something refreshing about its single-mindedness. This is Parrish's world: We can visit, but he makes the rules.
His Hand Made EP sounds better, in purely sonic terms, but it's a resolutely no-frills affair, particularly on the A-side's "Black Mist," an extended edit of a cut originally released on 2010's hand-pained, absurdly limited Sketches triple-pack. A single drum machine clatters away, banging out a grudging house groove while a gravelly bass synth walks in stoned circles. There's something there that pulls you in, but you'd better be prepared to meet Parrish halfway to find it.
"Pop Off" is even more restrained, doing little more than coughing up a cloud of keys and bells over a shuffling drum groove, and drawing out its uneasy tri-tone harmonies for the length of its seven-minute running time. But the sonics are more vibrant here, and the pulsing chords have a hypnotic way about them; like some of Pepe Bradock's recent material, it manages to balance the uncomfortable with the carefree. "Wild Out" follows similar form, layering indistinct squiggles over nervous arpeggios and a drum machine that sounds like it's been patched into the mixer with jumper cables. Per its title, it's the furthest "out" of all three tracks, but there's something refreshing about its single-mindedness. This is Parrish's world: We can visit, but he makes the rules.
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Published /
Tue / 25 Sep 2012 -
Words /
Philip Sherburne -
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Tracklist /
A Black Mist (Extended version)
B1 Pop Off
B2 Wild Out
London
Toronto
Tbilisi
Barcelona
Berlin
Paris
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