3 out of 5

Label: Analogical Force

Produced by: Reimer Eising

If you’ve got a thing you do well: do it.

Kettel covers a lot of range with their IDM, but ever since shuffling onto the scene in the early 00s, there’s been a tendency towards… the upbeat. Darkness can be there; tracks can get emotive; but more often than not the beats are playful; somewhat avoidant of booming low-ends but too into breakbeat to go fully towards more fanciful melodies, Kettel specializes in light-footed glitch that prioritizes melody; it’s the kind of stuff where you’ll find yourself humming a theme, hours after the fact. Stack it up against Aphex’s prettiest work, as on the Richard D. James album, but keep it focused on the pop, curving away from the showier breakdowns.

Kettel’s sound has also remained very timely, era by era; it’s not that those ’00 recordings are old sounding, but they have hallmarks of IDM from those years. By the same token, that focus on melody never goes out of fashion. This, ultimately, is a boon: you get a mix of fresh feelings with some nostalgia factor.

Inmate Shuffle follows these trends: its production is rich, and there’s a kind of retro PS2 vibe to the majority of the tunes, which is pretty on point for the 2025 release year. As is often the case with Kettel, these things will surprise with how instantly bright they are. Upbeat. And done with enough wiggle in that beat to definitely qualify towards the more squiggly of our current IDMers out there.

All that said, what will or won’t “work” for you with most Kettel releases – this one included – is if you’re the type of person who hears a good chorus, and can just put that chorus on repeat, all damn day. All the tracks on Shuffle are surely different, but the ones that do that positive shimmy thing follow, ultimately, similar templates and share a similar tone, and once Kettel has gathered the different elements of the beat – a fun journey, for the couple minutes it takes! – they’re content with just hitting us with that sound until the track ends. Because it’s so fun, it’s not a bad time, but if you’re listening more intently, the songs tend to drag on.

This is perhaps why Perrysprot 2, the shortest track – and one that breaks the formula, being more glitch-based – feels like the most “complete” tune, and I appreciate that sequencing is kept in mind by closing out with Dedemoon – a more chill, ambient track. Pretty linear, but a good way to add some more musical flavors to the mix.