4 out of 5

Label: Analogical Force

Produced by: Johnny Moy

The ever-adaptive Johnny Moy returns to Analogical Force, which means we’re getting another hard-hitting dose of Rephlex references mapped to Moy’s playful beats, with the “theme” this time – Dark Frontier had an acid vibe; Supermassive was appropriately over-the-top – synced to the hardware / software track titles. Ghostware blends modern aggressiveness with more analytical, raw analog synth sounds to produce a pretty outstandingly weird (aka MOY) mix of eras and styles; house standards get smooshed under IDM rushes and sudden ambient outbreaks; tight, complex syncopation gets wonky with the slight-mistimings of manual tweaks. MOY maybe pushes this to the point of near breaking, as the beats get so experimentally off-timed as to seem wrong, but he loops it, time and again, doubling down on the wrongness, daring your ears to adapt.

Opener Kernel Panic sets the stage for the album’s dichotomies by building from a steady beat to 90s Rephlex callbacks to broken, beat-drilled passages that then widen out into a chilled epilogue. Followup Megazone is the most linear track here, hitting on a very forward leaning beat and then glitchy BPMing it up for its 4-minute runtime. “Glitchy” may not sound linear, but that’s the hitch: it’s just like a long guitar solo, feeling a bit showy without really adding to the tune. It’s still fun, but despite the showiness ends up contrarily feeling repetitive; it goes on a shade too long without innovation beyond its central shtick.

In a way, though, this is a setup for the title track: Ghostware, to me, conjures up two thoughts: Ghostware as in haunted software; or something akin to vaporware. The piano base for the track has an emotive resonance, fuzzed up and reverbed by the production, bringing in layers of bass and slippery percussion while kind of holding on to the piano. That “holding on to” ripples through the song; it feels momentous, trying to say something and almost getting there but giving up before it does. That’s not a pejorative; it’s a masterful manipulation of our feelings.

Voidwave goes a kind of step further with this, pushing more distinctly into acid to strip away the passion and IDM frenzy of the prior tunes. But it also has that loose, analog-y low-end that grounds the whole record, fittingly ending us on a very warm, sole bass line.

I’m constantly blown away by MOY’s ability to write for a label, but I’ll own up to bias: I dig Analogical Force’s Aphex love, and Johnny Moy’s take on that has been one of its most consistently impressive, always showing how to show reverence for a style / era while making it modern, and your own thing. Ghostwave is also the most emotionally varied of Moy’s AF contributions, making it one of his most repeatable listens. (I say, and then get energized to go back and relisten to past AF EPs…)