Filastine Doesn't Suffer From Aphasia

Filastine is an artist that has continually pushed musical borders and experimented with sounds as if he were a mad scientist. He fears no sound, no idea, no genre and as a result his records cross the very ideals of what electronic, world, and music in general are defined by. His latest EP, Aphasia is a fine example of this endless desire to move things forward and push music in directions it might not want to go. Thankfully, it turns out the directions he wants to take music are directions we want to hear and be taken.

This four song EP is a stunning document of production wizardry, imagination, and creativity. Taking everything from found sounds to pentatonic vocal melodies and fusing them into something that while worldly is electronically produced. Broken beats bounce off layers of harmonies, hip hop productions intermingle with Middle Eastern rhythms and the whole thing sounds like the United Nations put to sound. While upon first listen it might all sound a bit chaotic and disjointed, further listens reveal gorgeous textures, rich sound palettes and a flair for creating odd rhythms that challenge but reward listeners. It's a very unusual but very beautiful sounding record that uses musical fragmentation to unify each song.

Aphasia is a really cool record that experiments with electronics, odd sounds and glorious melodies. It's odd combinations and strange arrangements take a listen or two to get used to, but once you do you realize that Filastine is one of the most imaginative and fearless electronic producers working today. Aphasia's undaunted nature and hypnotizing atmospherics make this one impressive little record (or cassette as it may be).

Filastine Make Off With The Loot

Sometimes something comes across your desk and you don't know where to put it, file it, or categorize it. You sit and listen to what you've been sent and you kind of just scratch your head going what the heck is this. That's pretty much exactly what I did with Filastine's Loot album. Residing somewhere between world music, dubstep, chill out, and ambient Filastine offer a smorgasbord of tasty bass-inflected delights.

Loot is an open minded record that's political, globally aware, forward thinking, active, and laden with deep, but devastating grooves. With a variety of vocals, samples, and sounds the record sounds like a mish-mash of culture spliced together in rhythmic bliss. As Filastine himself says, "Someone had to fill a niche for polyrhythmic compositions to make something less cold and quantitative, using more gritty acoustic input(s)." That's pretty much what he's done here with the addition of broken beats, sub bass, brutal bass lines, and enough sampledelic snippets to keep you guessing for ages. This is a record that takes dubstep and gives it an education. It's tolerable and listenable because it's not infested with tuneless noise that just doesn't make sense. There's melody here as well as powerful woofer blowing mechanics and when combined the record is an eye opening electronic experience of global significance.

Filastine is awesome at what he does and Loot is the kind of dubstep/bass record I wish there were more of. Loot is the product of a wide array of influences and a global melting pot of sounds melded into one colossus of an album. Brilliant, open minded, and two steps ahead Filastine's Loot has raised the bar for not only world music but bass music as well and you have to respect that.