Autonomous Addicts seems set up in every way to be yet anotherdisposable compilation of computer dance music that pads discographies,but it winds up being something much more interesting and essential.
The Designed Disorder
Everything about the introductory release from The Designed Disorder isset up to annoy me. The title makes no sense and seems to have norelation to the music; the artwork is nice but predictably absent ofpersonality; there's a hidden track listed on the track listing (thusmaking any effor to hide it moot;) and the whole thing looks and feelslike a release set up for marketing a new label rather than jumpingright in with vital new material. All of this should annoy me, but somehow the music contained on Autonomous Addictsmanages to elevate beyond any of those petty grievances. It is, afterall, the music that really matters here, and in that department thisnew label is showing promise. Collected on the disc are some of thenoteable and familiar names from the US "dance music that no oneactually dances to" scene. Richard Devine, Eight Frozen Modules,L'usine, and Twerk give the record some cachet and will likely servethe purpose for which the disc was produced: namely introducing peopleto new works by lesser-known artists like Anon, RD, and Edit. All ofthe artists working here pull from a similar kind of post-urban,post-digital milieu which gives the record a cohesive tone, even if itmeans that individual efforts sometimes blur together. The stark, crispbeats from Deru and Eight Frozen Modules are mostly interchangeablewith those from Tipper and Anon, but they are all good. The nice thingis that everything on the record is clean and well-produced and finelydetailed. When the bass drops, it's synthetic but satisfying, and whenthe beats get schizophrenic, they never outpace the songs they areserving. Hologram turns in the record's best and most melodic track,demonstrating in the process that composition counts for as much if notmore than sound design, even on a record like this one. RichardDevine's track is nice and uncharacteristically subdued, but his"hidden track" is an acid throwaway from a decade ago that doesn't addanything more than novelty. Logreybeam's track is a real find here too.The song's sampled drum sounds replace the predominantly syntheticdrums from the previous tracks to help mix things up a bit. Now ifpeople could just learn to write a melody without an FM synth tine...
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