Dalglish — Ideom

Dalglish is a new moniker for Chris Douglas, who since 1992 worked under the name Basilar and later on as O.S.T.. That last has been abandoned to work under other names, like Dalglish

Chris Douglas' bio boasts of many releases that were futuristic and ahead of its time. Seminal to what later would be called IDM (Intelligent Dance Music), music grounded in the electronic dancescene but so experimental and off-beat that you could expect anyone to dance to it, or it must be an 'intelligent dance' that I have no knowledge of. Still, the music of seem to tap from the (mostly dark) atmospheres of some electronic dance and disco music as well as the abstractions of more academic genres like electro-acoustic music that came into existence about 60 years ago.

The fourteen pieces on this first full length under the new name Dalglish are fairly dark in nature. Heavily reberberating mysterious soundclouds remind me of Scorn or more up-to-date: Burial, but without the urban dance grooves that those two artist accompany their trips into deep space. Douglas' rhythms are often almost disguised as seemingly random rattles and clicks. The most famous IDM band Autechre is certainly a reference here. Melodies aren't obvious either, no groovy basslines, let alone samples of soulful vocals. But as much as one can say all sound is rhythm you can say all rhythm is melody.

Ideom is slightly confusing as it can come across a bit random, but in that confusion lies a mysterious force that's intrigueing and enticing. The idiom of IDM may have been around for a while and the glory days seem to be behind us, but like Douglas reportedly made his music before the event, it doesn't seem aged after it.