INDIE ALBUM OF THE WEEK
Humans like continuity. It feels safe. If you can tell where something is coming from, odds are you can tell where it’s going to go. For over a decade, London’s boundless beatmaker Steve Spacek has been busy making the past sound like the future.
A chronic collaborator – everyone from J Dilla to Mark Pritchard has brushed shoulders with him – Spacek’s latest project is all about translating familiar styles into new and foreign sounds and contexts. Modern Streets was created largely through iPhone and iPod apps, and dictated by an ethos of ‘first take is best’.
The result is a spontaneous and eclectic record, driven by broken beats and a sonic palette that far exceeds all imaginative possibilities. It’s archaeology of London’s musical past, touching on everything from new wave to post-punk, DnB and dubstep in a deep, moody melting pot, and stamped with an Apple logo and Spacek’s eccentric lyrics and soulful voice.
This breadth of vision and experimentation is the best and worst thing about this record. Pursuing a formula for timeless originality is always risky, and as an album, it warbles off down a number of different paths, rendering the whole thing a bit confusing and precarious – kind of like the future. But if this is what it sounds like, it’s gonna be good.
4/5.
Modern Streetsis out now through Ninja Tune/Inertia.
