- Will & Ink isn't a standard techno label. The music is as bright as the artwork, and Yaleesa Hall is one of its most luminous acts. Over two solo records and two collaborative EPs with Nick Putman, the Amsterdam-based artist has explored twisted, pared-down club music that would light up nearly any DJ set. But it's the anomalies that set the tracks apart—the strange, squirming sound design on every record. Hall is a club producer with avant-garde intentions, and on Woodall, the debut album for Will & Ink, those tendencies run wild.
Ten of the album's 14 tracks are oddball sound studies, tangled compositions that sound like quick sketches. Some are dark and droning ("0215"), while others are brighter and more organic ("0242," "0302"). A few are totally off the wall, like the elephantine "0208" and "0244"'s fat horn and crumbling rattles. The four beat-driven tracks are more fully formed. "0508" begins with the same droning machine sounds as opener "0217," before pulling in metallic percussion to form an Autechre-esque techno cut. "0406" sounds locked in a broken loop at first, but the second half's breaks and painterly synth streaks come together in a danceable flurry.
"0600" and "0618" have a bit more to hold on to, and they'll be the standouts for anyone looking for Yaleesa Hall's colourful 4/4. A few more tracks like those would have been welcome, but the album is still admirable as is. Its music is creative, raw and highly inquisitive. Woodall brings Yaleesa Hall, the studio nerd and astute sound engineer, more into focus than ever before.
Tracklist01. 0217
02. 0056
03. 0508
04. 0242
05. 0215
06. 0301
07. 0406
08. 0212
09. 0302
10. 0208
11. 0600
12. 0244
13. 0618
14. 0244