Over Christmas I listened to Actress for the first time, the album Splazsh to be precise. I admit it passed me by, enjoyable as it was, it didn’t click with me. He just put out a single on Nonplus Records. This time it clicked. Since then, I’ve gone back to the album and I actually understand where Actress is coming from. Or maybe my musical taste has changed in the last three months.
Actress makes music that mixes the abstract elements and sounds of instrumental hip hop, with the melody of house and the repetition of minimal techno. What you get is a lo-fi, hypnotic drone. However, this isn’t actually what it sounds like. All those elements are there, but the lo-fi actually sounds incredible, adding to the beauty of the music. Everything is muffled under these dense beats, which gives it an incredible groove, one which puts it firmly on the dance floor.
As an album, it’s something akin to the weirdness of Mr. Oizo’s experimental works, jumping from one style to another, with obscure samples mangled and hidden in the music. For music that you get completely lost in, Actress is putting out some of the best stuff out there. I really think you have to hear it for yourself.
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