In today’s glut of electronica and various variants on it (‘indietronica’, ‘chillwave’, ‘post-dubstep’, etc.), it can be hard to remember that there was a time when electronic music was the domain of European festivals and CD imports – back in that time known as the nineteen-nineties. Hamburg’s Digitalism channel varying ‘older’ styles of electronica on sophomore release I Love You Dude, for an album that might not actually be that inventive, but is refreshing in its own way.
The Dude opens with electro-instrumental intro "Stratosphere", a standardized piece, but not bad, and sets some of the tone for the record. However, the duo largely do electro-styles well, such as the driving-but-in-love "2 Hearts", more contemplative dance piece "Circles", Underworld (QRO album review) big "Blitz", dark electronica beats "Miami Showdown" (which has a great ‘running out of steam’ finish), and VHS or Beta (QRO spotlight on)-like dance "Encore" to finish. There are some revivals that don’t work as well – "Forrest Gump" (another name from the nineties) is some too-cool-for-school electro (probably thanks to being co-written by Julian Casablancas – QRO solo album review – a name from just after the nineties…), while the one-two Aphex Twin-ish techno-electro combination of "Reeperbahn" and "Antibiotics" should have been split up – though it does make the subsequent female-sung synth growth of "Just Gazin’" refreshing.
The ‘all over an old map’ nature of I Love You Dude can make it a bit hard to get into, first few spins ‘round, but it’s that rare electro album in which further scrutiny of the individual tracks provides more rewards, thanks to its variety. If there’s a similarity with others, it’s not with the varying styles of today, making it both familiar & new.
MP3 Stream: "Just Gazin’"
