seven

baracuda first captured my attention when it was announced as a supporting act for imminent in canada. I was not sure what to expect from this project, and it took me a few listens to establish some sort of coherent opinion about this release. the initial descriptions of this project ranged from experimental drum&bass to gridlock-like idm. no wonder I was confused, when hearing this cd for the first time.

I think the closest definition I can come up with for this release is idm. it does possess a lot of idm flavor – broken heavy percussion following familiar non-linar fashion, beautiful soft strings, occasional sequence of fluttering keys. what sets it apart is the nature of percussion – tough, almost drum&bass-like. none of glitchy, stuttering, splintery sound that most of the idm scene uses these days. sometimes percussion reaches almost technoid strength, featuring pulsating abrasive textures.

its toughness is indeed closer to drum&bass genre; most of the time the beats come as heavy percussion drops; they fall down and pause, delayed, accentuated with atonal keys and strings. what makes this album so remarkable is the wealth of strings that are present on every track. they indeed might bring up “trace” by gridlock for those of you that heard the latter, on the other hand comparison to speedy j would be valid as well. graceful melodies are present throughout each track, always remaining essential part of the music.

altogether, I am still quite at a loss how to describe this album. I like it for all of its toughness and somewhat idm feel that at the same time is never formulaic, standing closer to technoid side of things. i suppose baracuda is one of those projects that come to their own version of idm from different background than "traditional" idm artists. the best tracks are heavy, broken, mechanized yet very melodic pieces. its excellent percussion would become very recognizable after a while, and it is certainly a memorable release with its own sound that should not be missed by anyone interested in this genre.