Exitos

by Ned RaggettLaner's follow-up to Omakase appeared on Kid 606's own label Tigerbeat -- not all that surprising, given Laner's friendship and respect for said electronic musician. Continuing the trend of sheer minimalism, Exitos strips things down even more, with beats barely surfacing here and there and the softest of tones and chimes making up the majority of tracks. While nowhere near as relentless as someone like Pan Sonic, Laner here aims for a similar level of subtle-as-it-gets impact, creating a lot by putting forth seemingly not much. Songs like "Around" seem barely to exist on any level, glitch-pulses softly firing through the calmest of semi-keyboard notes. Then there's the tinnitus-mimicking whines of "Through," which intriguingly herald what could almost be the disconnected notes of a slow wah-wah riff while blips punch through the sonics into a slow, crawling rhythm. Even more clearly heard guitar action surfaces on the following "Octelcogopod," though the extended solo gets tamped down in the mix behind the rhythms, a refreshing flip from the usual rock norm. "Known," meanwhile, is Laner's most direct, slamming song in a while, thanks to the crunching, steady rhythm that feels like an industrial dance tune getting ready to explode, though all the while with Laner's other typical sonic ingredients floating around the mix. The activity level remains the same, though -- at no time can anyone claim a lot of thought and care didn't go into the work because Laner clearly knows what he's doing and creates his music accordingly. Rougher moments, when they surfaced, get intentionally compressed and crunched down flat, spurting through the digital murk as it can: the initial beats of "Archive5," the loping strut and creep-out of "Oufui" three minutes into the song, and so forth. Mostly, though, this music understates and lets the mood set carry the rest.