Artist: SubtractiveLAD
Date Released:
Label: n5MD
Produced By:
Tracklisting:
- Freckle
- Remain Removed
- Nothing is Enough
- Nidus
- Martyr Relief Unit
- My Quadrant
- Neostasis
- Fixing a Shadow
- The Natural Whirled
- Giving Up the Ghost
- Homage
Review[]
Remember the first time you heard M83’s Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts or Ulrich Schnauss's A Strangely Isolated Place and how it’s huge, brooding sound seemed to encapsulate every feeling that was leaking out of your pores at that instance? Well Vancouver’s SubtractiveLAD emulates that exact same mood, except he is much more grounded in jazz-improvisation and analog synthesizers. Steven Hummel was a jazz performer for a good while until he started to gain an interest in computer technology and old school analog equipment. He gave up his traditional instruments and began to create his own through a vast maze of individual pieces and electrical wires. The result of his explorations is a gigantic sound of surreal ambiences and constantly evolving rhythms that evoke deep emotions within the listener. Hummel also allows each song to develop within itself in an IDM fashion, not cutting something short to fit into an allotted radio-friendly time period. 'Giving Up the Ghost' is one of those little-known records, other than by the diehard fans of electronica labels like n5MD, that you can play nonchalantly and have people turn their heads and ask "hey.... this is good, what is this?" Michael Ardaiolo