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Actress

Album Review: Actress – Ghettoville

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10891-ghettoville

Actress: Ghettoville

Similar Artists: Zomby, Lee Gamble, Lukid

Genre: XY2PQXX9

Label: Ninja Tune

 

It is now Tuesday, January 21st, 2013, the time is 4:25 PM, approximately 10 and 3/4 days since my initial voyage through Actress’ newest labyrinthine maze. While it’s no surprise that Ghettoville — Darren Cunningham’s 4th and apparently final album under the Actress moniker — is a strange and often confounding listen (considering the artist pretty much singlehandedly ushered in a new era of abstract techno) I admit that I underestimated the extent of his powers, and now, it seems I have befallen to them.

After incessantly listening to these 16 tracks repeatedly for 20+ hours, this marks the spot where I will begin my third fourth attempt to write this review. At this point in time, I am unsure if I will ever succeed in accurately conveying the themes of this cerebral minefield, and if this entrapping well I find myself in now continues to grow darker, I fear I will never be resolved of my duties as a music critic. Despite the increasing toll this experience has had on my well being, I must continue to stand by my duties, as mine is a profession relied on by many to provide satisfaction. However, if by some chain of events I am lead to deem my mission as being impossible, I hereby claim to hand over my prided music-reviewing degree and cast myself into exile. Thankfully, that day where I give up will never come, as I have taken an oath to continue to dissect this bold and insurmountable work until I can see it with eyes unclouded.

To prove my seriousness, I shall allow no other album — no matter how highly anticipated and readily available — to meet my ears until I have conquered this one. No dark crevice or subtle texture housed between the walls of this release shall pass by me without being factored into the towering equation. No lesser track shall be left out of the larger picture to allow for a quicker analysis, and most importantly, I shall blame myself and only myself for believing a track could be any less than absolute perfection.

There is no denying the brilliance of Darren Cunningham — I have moved past all thoughts of those kinds at this point in my journey, as I now know those thoughts are only a representation of the inherent mediocrity within myself. The only thing I must use now is patience, for it is the sole device necessary in unfolding the true meaning of this masterwork. Or maybe, just maybe, I will never be able to understand the whole of Ghettoville. Maybe the answer is that I’m just not smart enough to. This conclusion is something that in the long run I am not against saying, as a brain can only handle so much brilliance without overloading and crashing within itself. Sometimes, when I get caught up in thinking about it, I even fear the truth may be that I’ve never actually understood and properly enjoyed a single Actress track to date.

This self pity doesn’t even matter anymore though. It doesn’t matter whether I will or will not ever grasp the underlying themes of this record, as this infatuation of mine is about something bigger than proving myself to the music world. I could care less about how many more hours I will undoubtedly spend waiting for a grand realization or epiphany to form in my mind, because there is simply nothing about my existence that bears any more of an importance anymore. I am addicted, yes, a slave even, though not from any discernible enjoyment that I get from the act of continuously listening, but from the unrelenting curiosity that haunts my mind during the moments when I’m not. There is a feeling of some true underlying importance buried within this record, and one I refuse to dismiss as a production trick. This is a feeling that has been harvesting within Actress’ catalogue ever since he debuted with Hazyville in 2008, but now the feeling has become unavoidable and cemented within the productions. There’s nothing else to do now but wait and listen, and I gladly will until I find out exactly what it is that makes this music so spellbinding, for when that epiphany finally does arrive, I’ll know I’d have spent my life well.

 

Track Listing:

1.) Forgiven*

2.) Street Corp

3.) Corner*

4.) Rims

5.) Contagious*

6.) Birdcage*

7.) Our

8.) Time*

9.) Towers

10.) Gaze*

11.) Skyline

12.) Image

13.) Don’t

14.) Rap*

15.) Frontline

16.) Rule*

Album Highlight – *

Album Review: Actress – Silver Cloud EP

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actress_silver_cloud

Actress:          Silver cloud EP

Score:          6.8/10

 

Similar Artists:          Terrence Dixon, Autechre

Genre          Detroit Techno, Unclassifiable

 

Darren Cunningham is one of the few geniuses in crafting abstract techno. His last two full lengths, Splazsh and R.I.P  have proved to be  masterpieces, holding up through hundreds of listens. If you aren’t aware already, Actress crafts sullen, often monotonous (but not in a bad way) grayscale techno with a Detroit edge. However, such a plethora of different names and phrases have been used in attempt to describe his genre that it is better to refer to his style as unclassifiable. His use of jagged edges and bleak tone invoke dark cities of towering skyscrapers and endless subway systems, but in a much different light than Burial. Where Burial’s music uses club culture aesthetics, you would never hear this music in a dance environment unless the owner wanted to get everyone out of the building. These songs represent urban decay rather than urban sprawl.

This 3 track EP is yet another puzzle in Actress’ Discography. “Silver Cloud” is his first release since R.I.P and is in preparation for his next full length “Ghettoville”, which is due out later this year. He certainly hasn’t gotten any more accessible during his time off, as this is without a doubt his most difficult release yet. While Actress’ output could never be called fruitful, Silver Cloud is based on endlessly repeating structures and underlying themes that don’t present themselves for countless listens. It’s hazier and more opaque even than he was on his appropriately titled debut “Hazyville”.

“Voodoo Posse Chronic Illusion” starts with a disgruntled keyboard melody and an ultra lo-fi drum pattern that both seem disabled to the point where they would never be able to carry on for an entire song (no less a 12 minute one). Of course, they manage to, and once the pieces come into correspondence with each other, the song could easily last a whole lot longer. One person in a message board joked that these songs should all go on for at least an hour, joking aside, there is truth in this statement. Once the elegiac harp progression is introduced at the three minute mark, the song enters a state of perpetual continuity. Out of all the tracks here, this is the one you could imagine putting in a loop and listening to for a whole day, almost like a Wolfgang Voigt or William Basinski track.

“Floating in Ecstasy” is more menacing in tone due to its gun cock percussive element and ambience that resembles heavy breathing. Later in the song, a dread induced vocal sample comes into play that seems to be repeating “go away mean zombie”. It’s one of the darkest works in this artist’s discography for sure, and I can’t imagine what sort of schizoid mood I would have to be in to understand its true meaning. Final track, “Silver Cloud Dream Come True” is similarly infuriating. With obsessively repeating drum programming, samples of breaking glass and an ethereal bell chime, Darren creates a mood somewhere between serenity and nothingness, leaning towards the latter.

This release ends up being a particularly murky representative of Actress’ style. The production shows off Darren’s skills as a producer, but we were already aware of his supremacy in craft. All these songs are covered with such a dusty coat of paint that even through repeated listens, it can be difficult to grasp what truly is going on. Through full lengths, Darren Cunningham has been able to convey moods of vibrancy and excitement; it is a cliche, but his past albums have felt like journeys. This EP emits no such feeling, and its destination is ultimately nowhere. Actress is way ahead of the curve in electronic music, but getting to know this release on a personal level feels like a chore.

 

Track Listing:

1.) Voodoo Posse Chronic Illusion*

2.) Floating in Ecstasy

3.) Silver Cloud Dream Come True

*- Track Highlight