Miskate: lil'tugtug EP
Microcosm Music

Don't be thrown by the child-like title of Miskate's EP as there's nothing juvenile about Kate Iwanowicz's latest Microcosm outing. Though all songs hew to a minimal techno template, she playfully personalizes them with a vivid array of found sounds, of which her voice is the most distinctive. She drapes feathery 'Ooohs' and 'Aaahs' over softly pounding rhythms and intricate weaves of clicking patterns and steely smears in “Hear the Ahhh.” There is in fact a slight tug to the title track's rhythm, though it's the squirrelly calls and bluesy twangs that captivate most. On the flip side, scratchy beats and strangulated noises permeate “Crumply Crumbles,” giving it an ethereal ambiance and jacking quality that recalls Geoff White's similarly tactile techno style while “Lowly and Behold” ranges between passages of dreamy stillness and clanking grooves, all the while besieged by deep washes and cavernous bass lines. Miskate's unique personality constantly rises to the surface of these lovely tracks, all of them certainly dance-based yet instrumentally rich and compositionally inventive too.

July 2005