CD, Hymen Records, 2010
www.myspace.com/abs6idm
It is good to know that I’m not nearly as jaded as I think I am. When you’ve been reviewing as long as I have, sometimes you get stuff that just isn’t so inspired… or so you think. I felt a little like that to begin with with Abs6. At first, it seemed like a big mash of IDM, dubstep and glitches in all the right places; nothing I hadn’t already heard before, but “Audiomedikation” is one of those albums that after a few tracks really finds its momentum and, once it has your undivided attention, won’t let go until the end.
“Audiomedikation” is one of those albums that is deceiving at first due to its slow start, but it gets heavier, the rhythms more interesting and the album really does flow amazingly well. The first couple of tracks are very nice (“Diagnostik” and “Premiers Traitements”) but there’s nothing about either of these that really makes you want to sit up and pay attention. But get to “Minimoi”, wait for the unbelievably heavy bass line and crunchy beats to kick in, and you just watch yourself get hooked. The remixes are also very good; Mimetic’s remix of “Douce Trépanation”, for instance, is just stunning. In it are world music samples and lots of ethnic rhythms mixed in with the heavy dubstep wobble, and whilst that might sound like an insane mixture, it really does work.
Abs6 isn’t doing anything too ‘out there’ by any means, but his style of dubstep-influenced IDM is not to be ignored. The project really does go more towards dubstep, but with glitches and not the other way around – there are many IDM/electronica artists these days who are getting all dubstep but not approaching it correctly. Dropping bass lines all over the place without thinking about the rhythm just doesn’t work, yet Abs6 appears to have gotten it right. Also, you can’t really argue with an album that has a track called “Basslines Enhancing the Intestinal Transit” … Abs6’s homage to the ‘brown sound’? I think so! It might not be an essential release, but it shows some very real promise, and as a whole is a pretty interesting album.
[7/10]
– Kate Turgoose