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Staccato du Mal, "El Mago En Ti"
Ramiro Jeancarlo's solo project has only been active for a few years, but with these releases the Miami artist has refined his own insular version of electronic music with the assistance of a sprawling vintage synth collection. This album captures his two primary styles: weird electronic experiments and catchy, song-like pop outings. Even though the overall feel may be different, Jeancarlo manages to tie them together to result in a diverse, yet unified sounding album.
In general, the first half of El Mago En Ti is where the abstract and more disjointed synth experiments happen.The opening of "Drowning Feathers" keeps time with snappy, sparse percussion and sweeping keyboards, but the overall sound is sad and desolate, with the nearly indecipherable vocals adding to this sense of seclusion.Jeancarlo slowly adds more and more to the mix to flesh it out, but it retains its cold, disoriented feel to it.Comparatively, "Spherical Aberration" has a doomier, more dissonant sense throughout.With an isolated and uncomfortable sounding vocal performance, the piece is largely dominated by a menacing, bass heavy electronic sound that gives a distinct rawness.
The B side of the record is where the more conventional sounding compositions are placed."Addiction" may have a thin rhythm track and simple bassline, but with the addition of vocals and a shimmering synth melody, it results in a piece that sounds more like a conventional song than an electronic experiment."Anima Sola" is also driven by a more up-tempo drum machine, and focused largely on a noisy, buzzing analog synth pattern.It is still dark and depressive overall, but the result is more easily latched on to because of the sense of composition.
The second half may be overall somewhat more musical, Jeancarlo still sneaks in an obtuse moment with "Fistful Questioning."There is a loose sense of organization, but the focus is largely on rapid skittering and pulsing synthesizers.Considering the overall mix of the piece is a bit strange as well, it stands out strangely as a throwback to the first half of the record.He closes the album with "La Gran Evasion," the closest he manages to come to traditional electronic music.An instrumental work with more conventional rhythm sequences and a ghostly synth lead, it is an extremely strong, if slightly repetitive (like most dance music) way to end a superlative album.
With a nice balance between experimental miniatures on one half and conventional songs on the other (and an appropriate amount of crossover), El Mago En Ti is a strong piece of eclectic electronic music.With just enough hooks to grab my pop loving side, but a wide berth of experimentation and eccentric sounds, the stylistic balance is very strong and pulls the record together extremely well.
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