3 out of 5

Label: Rephlex

Producer: PP Roy

So I was hardcore collecting Rephlex Records at the time of PP Roy’s second release, though I was definitely sticking to the “like Aphex Twin” artists at first because the label had quite a catalogue to collect.  Having gotten most of that under control, my new method was to continue collecting old albums from the used bins and nab anything new that came out.  That way I could stay on top of it.  Picking up PP’s “You Can’t Help Liking” (his first Rephlex thing) was a tip-off that maybe my understanding of the scope of Rephlex – or my tastes – was / were pretty limited.  The liner notes blabbed about PP being a radio DJ, and the album displaying his continuous mix abilities, or something, or something, this is all from memory.  “Cool” says me, and pretends to dig it but actually never listens to it all that much (beyond a perfunctory spin), because it was pretty lacking in the IDM and leaned more on the quirky club stuff, which generally ain’t my bag.

“Seven Up” came out, I bought it at a time that I was really starting to waver on Rephlex, and with the opening track “One Step” and it’s with-Global Goon followup “Working in Harmony” and I was back on board – I was convinced the label was gold forever and I went back to listen to “You Can’t Help.”  …And didn’t like it.  …And didn’t really listen to Seven Up all that much thereafter.  Why?

Track five, “Alive,” is a pretty good indicator.  With its constant danceable beat and disco-esque vocal sample, this is still club stuff.  The first track is totally out of left field IDM and the G.Goon pairing smooths Roy’s poppy beats into the more groove stuff that the Goon works with, and it sort of tricks your ear for what follows.  Because it is different from “You Can’t Help,” which did, absolutely, sound like a DJ flipping between samples – it’s more composed (although the latter half of the EP slips back into that radio vibe), it’s less of a composite sound and closer to something you could identify with the artist, if he’d kept making music as such, but it’s… it’s dance.  It’s Air.  It’s safe, it’s ‘sexy’ in the fun way that Spin Magazine might like, if the release had generated any press whatsoever.  So it’s just pretty empty, despite having a great jam to start and some good ideas laced throughout.