Brainchops :: The Braindance Blog

Moth Conk Midi
Amazing Stories
[CAOUTCHOU Records :: 2010]
Free Download

7.5/10

A true example of "you can't judge an album by its cover", Moth Conk Midi's "Amazing Stories" debut is not an acid house party mix nor is it a stoney study of analog experiments as the artwork might suggest.  Moth Conk Midi is the new collaboration project between Oxynucid of London and Berlin's own Vertical67, and if you're familiar with each of these talented artists' respective work, you're sure to be surprised by this genre-melding collection of well-produced electronic tracks.  Ambient Soundscape, Electro, D'n'B, Psyachadelic, Breakbeat, Leftfield, Downtempo, Experimental, and a smidge of Acid are all encapsulated in this release, making it widely varied and a great listen time and time again.

When firing up the opening track "Cohort I", I was met with a pleasant and unexpected array of traditional eastern percussion and string sounds that instantly piqued my interest, and had me doing a double take to make sure I'd pressed "play" on the right album. Indeed I did and moments later a sweet, melodic synth washed its way over the beat in a perfect blend of acoustic and electronic.  Enter drum machine about halfway through and we've got some excellent mellow IDM.  "Overpowered (featuring iAM9)" is a chilled out piece with sexy vocals by iAM9 and for me peaks around the 4:38 mark when that warm buzzy synth comes in and plays over the main melody.  "Autumnbreaks" and "Summerbreaks" give us some classic braindance while maintaining the laid back vibe that resonates throughout the entire album.  "Audiofiletourism" is a twinkly, but borderline elevator music track, (and I could swear I hear "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" somewhere in there) but it doesn't stray too far from the rest of the pack.  Overall this album is something Moth Conk Midi should be proud of and I recommend it to anyone into early Future Sound of London, The Orb, Plaid, and Squarepusher.


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Tracklisting:
1. Cohort I
2. Inhale/Exhale
3. Autumnbreaks
4. Overpowered (featuring iAM9)
5. Falkenfelser
6. Welcome To Rapture
7. Summerbreaks
8. Audiofiletourism
9. Cohort II

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