4 out of 5

Label: Local Action

Produced by: 96 Back

In his hot flash of releases across 2019 / 2020, 96 Back firstly established himself as a modern wizard of Rephlex glitch revivalism – something the artist’s primary label, CPU, was initially pretty good at showcasing before shifting to generally housier / more acid-geared fare – and then, over a similarly frequent stream of releases, began to feel out other areas of electro before landing on a more melodic, poetic style. That exploratory time inbetween can be uneven, but it’s never uninteresting; with Sugilite, 96’s first drop for local action, he began to really shape that emotive realm, while still being very leashed to the BPM rushes of yore.

…Which he’s awesome at, though as with the CPU stuff, it’s a tricky balance between nostalgia beats / samples and doing something new, and about half of Sugilite leans one way, one half the other. The playfulness of hopping back and forth between the line is thrilling as hell, but it’s even more thrilling to hear 96 really pluck at the more muted, “song”-like direction of his then-forthcoming albums.

Half a Reach kind of loops for too long but its precision with percussion atop a tweaked mix of Aphex beats is lovely; Waif’s muted glitch and Hot Tip’s grime juggle some similar callbacks but lean into BPM madness most delightfully; Inclination Fresh is another genre sidestep to exploring a kind of chiptune vibe, which 96 Back masters but it’s a bit less definitively “his” sounds versus the other tracks here, which are dominated by them even if / when borrowing from others.

Besides the small hitches of hearing an artist continue to evolve past his inspirations, the only real downside to Sugilite is that there’s not a physical form available. If you’re a physical-first person like myself, don’t let that hold you back: digitally, this is still a must-have addition to your 96 Back collection.