The first time I heard this, I was blown away by the sheer technical bravado of it. Djrum (the ‘j’ is silent), aka DJ and producer Felix Manuel, starts with improvised-sounding piano which has a lightness and fluidity that is like dancing fireflies in musical form. He layers on synths, strings (cello is by Zosia Jagodzinska), and other instrumentation (including apparently, a mbira). And then the whole thing is driven along by crackling, pulsating drum programming, generally hovering around what I’m going to tentatively call a kind of jazzy post-footwork, although it’s very hard to pin down, and there are moments which stray, for example, into breakcore. The whole thing has a bewitching complexity. It largely flies along trippingly. One of the many astonishing things is how the tempo is fairly relentless — I haven’t measured it, but a lot of it must be pushing 180 BPM — and yet there is nothing punishing about this record. There are occasional interludes where, for example, the drumming takes on a tribal intensity — only to be counterpointed with the delicacy of a harp melody.
This is not a flawless album. There are moments where I find myself wondering if, beneath the cleverness, there’s slightly less to it than meets the ear. But with such an ambitious piece of work, there is almost bound to be the occasional miss. But those fleeting doubs are soon blown away by the next mercurial flourish.
All in all, this is a breakneck display of technical wizardry, a genuine emotional journey, and an utter joy to listen to.
I bought this from the artist’s bandcamp page.
dogrando writes about some records 