Dusky have carved out a low-population niche of their own in the wake of their 2016 album, Outer, on Polydor, practicing a kind of alchemy that harnesses IDM’s spacey noddiness, passes it through a grime filter and burns out the purified minerals to fit in a deep house dance club format.
In less floral pose – Dusky’s original tracks actually sound like club-ready remixes of ecstatic, head-in-the-clouds electronica from some pretty bad ass dudes. They’re making it from scratch, though, and aside from a growing relationship with Gerd Janson’s Running Back, Dusky save the dope shit for their own 17 Steps label.
And this is next. Out in October, Imagine What features three tracks of that dream house electronica, from the urgent and spiritual dirge of the title track to two really remarkable b-side objets d’art. “LI” (Long Island?) I can only describe in contrasts: It’s like Hardkiss from the Delusions of Grandeur era remixing Aphex Twin from the Analogue Bubblebath era.
Unlike some of the rave flashback records that have been getting hype lately, this is a continuation – a record inspired by a sound rather than an attempt to create a contextless replica. Dusky bring a more aggressive tone to “Cedar,” which folds nicely into the post-DJ Shadow skein of 1990s electronica.
Dusky: Imagine What / 17 Steps
1. Dusky: Imagine What (05:38)
2. Dusky: L.I. (05:18)
3. Dusky: Cedar (04:37)
