Zomby - Dedication (CD, Double vinyl LP)

He's most definitely got a bit of a magic touch about him this feller. From the finger clicks, gunshot explosions and haunting synths of the opener 'Witch Hunt', you know you're in unique territory. The delectable 'Natalia's Song' is a post-Burial slice of chimerical wonder that sets the stall so high that much of the album, no matter how sublime, doesn't unravel and fold around your heart in quite such an stirring fashion. It's a much mellower counterpart to his retro-rave odyssey 'Where Were You...", bringing on the more contemplative, zen-like aspect of his sound. There's lashings of his trademark space-trance synth work throughout, conjuring up vivid images of Galaxian raves on distant planets but the beats are lighter, breezier - pulsing and skittering away like on the contemporary update of mid-'90s ambient techno which carries the unlikely title of 'Riding With Death'. He's more than successfully bridged that all-important gap between the cosy immersion of home listening and the euphoria of club culture. The production hallmarks that this guy conceals up his sleeve are truly impressive. It's a crisp yet womb-like sound that zings deliriously around your mind and I, for one, am quite addicted. A nice surprise for the modern indie kid comes with the excellent 'Things Fall Apart' featuring the hazy mantra-like vocals of one Panda Bear. It's a great downtempo hallucination of a tune with a slow, strutting stepper of a beat and features those bubbling, escalating synths that you've all come to love. Many tunes appear like all-too-brief incidental vignettes and mood pieces, folding into one another like the wax in a lava lamp. This album rushes by in one colourful fantastical surge and before you know it you reach the delectable finale 'Mozaik' with its bouncy stepping kuduro-style beat and giddy stratospheric trance keys. It's the perfect combination of hands aloft '90s ecstasy and wholesome contemporary rhythms and just suddenly ends...stops dead, like someone's just dropped a steel shutter onto the autobahn of your mind. What a fucking tease of a man, gotta love his style though...