Articles
2013 Artist Picks
Jane Ira Bloom

Albums
Wataru Abe
Antonymes
Benoît Pioulard
Jane Ira Bloom
Blu Mar Ten
Matti Bye
Celer
Maile Colbert
Viv Corringham
Ensemble Economique
Karlheinz Essl
Farthest South
Faures
Flica
Fryadlus
Ghost Bike
Ikebana
Rafael Anton Irisarri
The Jaydes
Lantscap
Tristan Louth-Robins
Löwenritter
Chloë March
Lubomyr Melnyk
Mental Overdrive
Northumbria
Ed Osborn
perth
Xenia Pestova
Preghost
Redfish
Rion
Sicker Man
Thee Silver Mt. Zion M. O.
Ken Thomson
Otto A Totland
Vitiello + Berg

Compilations / Mixes
#100
Best of Poker Flat 2013
Evolution of the Giraffe
Danny Howells
Missing Fragments

EPs / Cassettes / Mini-Albums / Singles
Richard J. Birkin
DJ Bone
Cernlab
Akira Kosemura
Fabrice Lig
Lilies on Mars
Mako
Nian Dub
Nuage
Quiroga
Sheens
Snoqualmie Falls
Solenoid
Strong Souls
Tessela
ujif_notfound
Voyager

Flica: Weekendary
mü-nest

Weekendary, the first Flica album in four years from Malaysian artist Euseng Seto (who initiated the project in 2007), draws its inspiration from Japanese instrumental hip-hop, something plainly evident in the head-nodding beats that skitter through the forty-five-minute recording's ten tracks. In truth, the fact that Seto dedicates as much attention to fashioning luscious electronica makes the musical style feel closer to trip-hop than hip-hop, as the languorous flow of a representative cut like “11.25pm” makes clear. In this particular case, a loping beat pattern appears but so too do delicate acoustic guitar and electric piano shadings, the combination of which amounts to four minutes of relaxed, serenading swing. That dream-like feel carries over into other tracks, too, such that pieces like “Reforming,” “The Book,” and “Wasteland” become exercises in sophisticated mood music designed to soothe the frazzled soul.

A typical Flica setting sees Seto building multiple layers of keyboards (acoustic and electric pianos, synthesizer), string washes, electronics, and beats into saturated moodscapes of restrained joy—think of it as a fusion of electronica and trip-hop tinged with twilight, something beatifically realized in the title track but in other places, too. While mood is paramount, melody is a central concern also, as shown by the piano themes that often anchor the material. His orchestral side comes to the fore during the strings-heavy reverie “Journey,” and mention must be made of Kent Lee, Seto's only guest on the recording, whose funky electric bass playing adds considerable heft and personality to “Midnight Call.” A hint of melancholy seeps into “Ideal,” but its relatively downcast demeanour is the exception not the rule on this well-crafted set of breezy instrumental trip-hop. That Seto chose to end the album with the exuberant uplift of “The Space Elevator” says much about the message he presumably intended to convey.

January 2014