Parallel Play

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A collaboration between two of Oceania's finest new(ish) talents, Patio sees Michael Upton aka Jet Jaguar ease his smartly funky electronica into the considered ambient drift of Bevan Smith aka Aspen. And this experiment in hybridisation turns out to be an unqualified success, producing a beautiful bouncing baby of an album whose precise features are so well-sculpted that one suspects genetic modification, but whose near-analogue timbre, ebullient vitality, and gentle wit belie an all-too human upbringing. There are so many alluring tunes here: "Liam, Let It Rain" is lovely, quite beguiling, guitar-like textures which are somehow not at all guitar-like (akin to Zammuto's "Willscher"?) and a gently prodding dub-funk so far behind the beat it requires an intricate rhythmic lattice of sharp, electronic ticks to keep it from nodding off - these insectoid nanotech patterns are something of a speciality. "Purist Trap" has some of the future-funk of Aspen's "Are You That Retail Snob?", a lilting insouciance peppered with Kraftwerkian chopped-vox and formally smart pulsing rhythms. And "Effeminate Bus Driver" is typical of the beautifully slow-paced, sparse grooves which characterise Parallel Play. There's a dubby feel about much of the sound: echoing, drifting, unpredictably dynamic over wide-open spaces - evoking real movement - as in "Hamper" where percussive pomp-suggestions gently shift into ghostly shadows and light, or (close relation?) "Damper" where surreally woozy synth oozes over spirals of warped-maraca sample. The Patio trick seems to be able to produce something melodically pretty in a genre not distinguished by great melodic writing, draping these tunes over subtly funky rhythm tracks which are direct enough to induce head-nod yet richly complex enough to get utterly lost in. I guess ultimately what attracts is that it is techno, with all of its concomitant concerns and possibilities, yet there's an organic warmth about it, providing a vocal-less musical terrain with enough emotional foothold to captivate the listener. Just as with their previous releases (reviewed elsewhere on motion), and other kindred spirits such as Pole, B.Fleischman's "Poploops", Snd's "Travelog", Susumu Yokota, Zammuto, et al, there are truly complex characters immersed in Patio's future sounds, which do the creators, Upton and Smith, immense credit.