ike release: noir

M>O>S Recordings is proud to present its next album project, namely a debut solo full-length from Chicago's Ike Release. Ike is an accomplished solo producer as well as being one-half of acclaimed duo Innerspace Halflife with Hakim Murphy, and has a long and fruitful relationship with M>O>S Recordings. For the last five years or so, Ike has been releasing a mind-expanding brand of analog-rich music that continues in his native Chicago's fine traditions without resting on the usual tired tropes. Labels like M>O>S, Machining Dreams and his own Episodes have released it to date and now this full-length, Noir, comes as a fully-formed artistic statement that lays out his sound in all its glory. Across ten tracks, Ike unleashes his array of machines (Microkorgs, a machinedrum, MPCs, iPad Apps, cracked soft synths, borrowed Nord Leads, field recordings) and explores deep, textural house, ramshackle percussive grooves, the darkest corners of the galaxy, and lots more besides. Opener "Lost Cities" is an underwater rhythm with gloopy synths and stiff drum hits that eases you into the ride. From there, there's the raw, deep jack of "Precipiate" with its soft acid line, the disheveled house of "Vapor" and the gluey synth layers and dreamy pads of "Solace." "Faded" is a more subliminal and ambient interlude but then the second half of the album kicks again with the celestial soundscapes of the title-track, which manges to sound both heavenly and yet aggressive at the same time. Always managing to coax maximum feeling and atmosphere out of his tools, Noir is a true journey into the deep that will leave you feeling somewhere altogether different.