Topdown Dialectic - ST [Peak Oil - 2018]
Topdown Dialectic's self titled LP (not to be confused with their several self titled cassettes) is washed out, heavily processed ambient dub music in the rhythm has been blurred and delayed into a faded, sun-bleached swirl. It exists fluidly between the realms of dance music, chillout electronic and ambient listening music. In this way it resembles the work of Vladislav Delay, but has less in the way of broken beats, and more comfortable empty space. The nostalgic consonance of the 'dub chord', that interval familiar to any heavy listener of deep house or dub techno, is restful, yet expectant. Emotionally charged no matter how many times it is repeated, how many artists utilize the same progressions, it can only be the sound of peace itself in the human brain. It seems to contain a lifetime of emotions and ideas in its resonance. It can never be exhausted, only mastered.
On this album, it flickers and percolates skillfully in a rhythmic cloudlike glimmer, busy yet gentle, an unintrusive process ever continuing, builting upon itself. I am reminded of the urban electronica of Richie Hawtin, particular during the era of his "Closer to the Edit" mix in 2001, in which his style was a flavor of click-and-pop inflected 'micro' house, the lush chords of 90's deep house sliced and digitalized into shards and fragments which blink in and out of the soundspace. This reserved, thoughtful sound has a clean, precise texture and intelligent, gradual unfolding which promotes clarity of mind, fit for museums or living spaces.
The spiralling, skittering beats shift cleverly between recognizable 4/4 and total visionary abstraction. The heavy layering amasses into a massive, many-pieced strobe, adorned with flashing and turning components. Where many classic 'dub techno' releases from Basic Channel and others were spacious and compositionally simple, this music is filled with details and interlocking parts. The zen and textural beauty of chillout music is thus combined with the cerebral technicality of techno and IDM.
This is one of my favorite releases of the year thus far. It possesses all the serenity and ear pleasing sonorous warmth of dub techno and chillout music, and all the cleverness and mentally engaging technicality of IDM and good techno/house. Topdown Dialectic seems to be engaging in some anti-marketing with all the untitled tracks and limited cassette / LP releases, but this music deserves to be heard far and wide. It is head and shoulders above most of the downtempo electronic world.
  Josh Landry
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