Ikonika - Contact, Love, Want, Have

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4...according to our Brian on Thu 01 Apr, 2010.

She's been pretty consistent on the fringes of dubstep has Sara Abdel-Hamid AKA Ikonika. Her debut long player is here and what a glorious, technicolor mess it appears to be! Mashing up propulsive bass, dizzy 8-bit melodies, clattering syncopated beats and classic melodic synth washes, her widescreen vision seems to encompass many styles whilst retaining a strong identity & singular purpose - to move yo' ass and yo' mind! So many producers are guilty of falling into stylistic cul-de-sacs or releasing generic dancefloor fodder but this young producer has created a smooth, soulful futuristic opus that demands repeated listens. I'd recommend headphones for this baby as much of the subtlety & fluid grace of this 14 tracker may be lost in translation if 'Contact, Love, Want, Have' is employed merely as background listening. One of the standout tracks for me is the solid 'Fish', stargazing melodies and a bruising, snaky bassline that recalls Joy Orbison but probably knocks him off his perch in search of that sublime euphoric kick you're all gurning for. Superb....

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After a string of 12s on Hyperdub over the last couple of years starting with the now classic 'Please' in 2008, 'Contact, Want, Love, Have' is the debut album from Sara Abdel-Hamid aka Ikonika. ‘Contact, Want, Love, Have’ doesn’t mess around or waste a note as Ikonika colours in and then discards the rulebook. Maybe it’s her background as a drummer in a post-hardcore band, her love of R'n'B and hip hop that bring in the extra dimensions that makes her music stand out from the legions. Or maybe its just her ear for an odd melody. While on the face of it the album seems to traverse a number of retro-futurist styles, including dubstep, UK funky and garage, ‘80s synth pop and computer game soundtracks, it remains totally contemporary, coherent and focused, making the idea of restricting Ikonika’s sound to a single genre irrelevant. In its sometimes brash tone clashes, Ikonika has produced an album that feels emotionally powerful and brave. Never obvious, and bordering on the maniacally deranged at times, her hyperactive, tough and sparse drums and bright, citric synthesizers splash new shapes and fizzes of emotion all over the place. From the first woozy breeze of the accordian-like synths of opening track 'Ikonoklast', on to the deliriously twisted stomp of 'Idiot', the synthetic beauty of 'Yoshimitsu', 'Fish' and 'Heston', the computer love of 'We Are All Winning The War', the mutant g-funk half-step of 'Sahara Michael' through to the atonal soca-tronics of 'Look' and the space funky of'Psoriasis' and 'Video Delays', if you listen carefully you’ll hear one of 2010's most original producers at work.

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