5 out of 5

Transllusion was, I’d say, my first appreciation of what electronica could “do” outside of the style to which I’d warmed – namely Aphex Twin-y IDM.  Perhaps appropriately, the disc came out near the start of what would prove to be the Rephlex label’s final phase, turning back to the outer reaches of house and dirty beats in which it’d been birthed before one of its primary parents – Mr. Richard D. James hisself – became such a gigantic influence upon the scene and encouraged a slew of like-minded snare-rush hunting fiddlers to pound their keys and twist their knobs and make up most of the Rephlex release schedule in the late 90s / early 2000s.  While it took me a long time to come around to some of this latter-era stuff due to having found my way to the scene via Come To Daddy and the like, Transllusion, notably, was different: the chintzy but mysterious cover art and blending of cold themes with warm, playful vocal notes and a bubbly sense of beat matched the juxtaposition of psychotropic art imagery with street-level song titles like ‘Dirty South Strut.’  Little did I know, then, that I was listening to a stalwart of the scene – James Stinson, one part of Drexciya; knowing that now, and having become appreciative of Stinson’s habit of exploring the highs and lows of nature and community in his music, it’s retroactively understandable how my ears were able to hear something deeper and more reflective in an electronic genre – something housier, groovier – that I wasn’t previously keen on.

The squiggles of aforementioned opener South Strut are a cool and clever gateway into this sound, incorporating some downtempo, quirky IDM elements into Stinson’s icy, reverbed beats, but the majority of the record dives in for a darker narrative – stopping, briefly, to chill out and smile with Bump It’s oddball high-tuned vocal sample – of strolling the streets and thinking about the exhaustions of day-to-day living.

It’s a completely unassuming record, not necessarily trying to earn your attentions, which makes it layered, laidback approach all the more rewarding as its charms work their way inextricably into your evolving electronica tastes.  What seals the deal on it being a five star release, for me, is the way it works holistically: so few electronic albums hang together from front to back, not to mention supporting a “feeling” or theme all the way through, but Stinson manages it all, here, and seemingly with ease.