3 out of 5

Label: Analogical Force

Produced by: Ian Lambert

Thoroughly, head-bobbingly entertaining, Daed, on Coordinate, manages to mostly stay a step or two ahead of the usual “this sounds like Aphex Twin” comments that plague IDM releases by not avoiding the tricks of the trade, but rather letting a particular mood guide their tracks, dressed up by excellent break beats and fills. It’s an EP that treads the line of familiarity in a good way, ghostily floating back and forth between flashes that will have you about to stand up and call foul, before Daed twists it and takes it somewhere wholly funky and weird, and you’re already on your feet so at that point you’re dancing, foul forgotten. This tricksy balance is only really left behind on Voidal, which could be a latter-day Squarepusher track – not in a bad way, just in that it no longer feels as unique as the rest of the EP’s material – and H2FSbF6 follows on that by spending some time in glitchy Aphex territory, but Daed successfully amps that up into oddball, mischievous sci-fi electro about midway through, making it something completely different and quite badass. That’s rather the dominating vibe of the affair: some kind of mad experiment, electricity zapping between pylons, creating a fun spectacle that turns unpredictable and shocks your hair on end. Fun stuff.