Texture - Aphasia (Black Lantern Music)

Coming from the head honcho of Scottish net label Black Lantern Music, which is also home to much loved TCUC fave - Godmanwho; Aphasia is a reasonably full EP of Trip-Hop/Alt. Hip-Hop which stakes a firm claim for BLM's position as one of the top labels out there.

As I've mentioned before it's always a bit of a joy to my tiny, cold heart when I come across CC licensed Hip-Hop which strikes a proper balance between lyricism and production as opposed to obsessively focusing on the former in the absence of the latter. And it's even more of a joy when it actually turns out to be decent.

Production is handled by a gallery of people I've first come across here; Morphamish fulfilling the bulk of the duties whilst Asthmatic Astronaut takes up the task on 'Impact', a track which also features Harlequinade. It's a line-up which works surprisingly coherently, almost imperceptibly melding in with the greater arc of the EP rather than leaving the clear joints often defined when input is shared.

The beats themselves are towards the Electronic end of things but carrying with them a nice depth of sound, which leads to an immersive listening experience, heavy beats deftly drawing you in. If I were to offer criticism then my first thought would be to some of the more jarring edges contained here, they're few and far between and, where they exist, they don't do too much to pull the ear away from the luscious, hypnotic heart of the music. But there are occasional moments of unpleasant edginess which throw the sound out of balance. It might also be fair to suggest that some of the beats linger a bit too long, almost becoming too ingrained to really hear through the duration of a five or six minute track. Whether that's hypnotically indulgent or slightly grating though I'm not entirely certain.

Lyrically we're firmly on abstract territory here, the realms of Aesop Rock and his school of almost tortuously deep flows which are too intricate and intertwined to be consumable in a musical format. This sort of thing is an acquired taste I suspect and at times it's definitely an absorbing experience but just as often it came become little more than a slightly discordant layer on top of the music. Personally I enjoyed it on this EP, but it'd be no great surprise to me if others found it a slightly less relaxed listen.

So, Texture's 'Aphasia', it's good, it's not quite perfect but as the first part of a trilogy there's more than enough here to merit further attention to future efforts. It's a rather tantalising glimpse at what could be an interesting project in its infancy.

Download 'Aphasia'

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