Passed Me By

I managed to somehow miss that MSTRKRFT did a new LP back in July. I mean, I knew they were back doin' stuff but there's been no real hints or anything, disogs even says it ain't out in non-promo form outside of Canada yet. So let's have an impromptu first Impressions / review thing shall we?



I'd heard a few people mention this one in looking up other impressions of it, and I was pleasantly surprised to be truthful. I'd only heard Little Red Hen off this thing, and that seemed to be an expansion on their occasional kinda minimal abrasive stuff as seen on Neon Knights and such. Runaway on the other hand, is pretty much the old MSTRKRFT formula updated to 2016, honestly it could almost be a lost remix from the blog house glory days, which makes it doubly surprising why I've heard nothing about it. And as much as I'd love an LP invoking the spirit of 2007, I'm also happy that they didn't do that, more on that next.



Party Line is more abstract than your usual MSTRKRFT affair for sure, and boy is it much more abrasive than even the hardest parts of The Looks or Fist Of God, and that ending is abrupt as can be. Despite not sounding much like their ususal output and me harping on about them no retreading ground, this one still sounds like it would be at home in some DJ sets from the time. Especially going by the Mr. Oizo bootlegs I have. Speaking of...



Oizo gives it the once over too, and does some harking back of his own with that drum loop taken straight from Lyn Collins's Think (About It), the end result sounding like an amalgamation of the sounds of Analog Worms Attack, Moustache (Half A Scissor) and Lambs Anger wrapped into one. It's a little on the short side and just kind of ends without any fanfare too. There's a bunch of remixes of the other tracks too, including a Juke style rework of Runaway from blog friend from way, way back The Phantom's Revenge, here's hoping that it gets a European release and that they get included, I remember we had to wait a long time to get Fist Of God over here so there's hope yet.

-Claude Van Foxbat