4 out of 5

Label: Rephlex

Producer: Bogdan Raczynski

Around the time of Alright!’s release, Rephlex started turning back toward its roots of acid-house, issuing old and new stuff that all stuck to the same sort of loose, garagey vibe of 808-state of yore.  Richard James himself seem to turn back the clocks a bit for his Analord releases.  Rephlex still put out albums that I dug during this period (which might still be going on – I haven’t had the chance to grab a new Rephlex album recently), but seeing as how I wasn’t a club-kid in 80s UK and I got into Rephlex for the more IDMish stuff, the label wasn’t as trustworthy to me at that point, and I started hesitating if the album art looked a little too retro.  Alright! sports a pretty funny minimalist cover of the title in gold on a black background, but it’s freakin’ Bogdan, master of the cracked out glitchy beat, so I bought it in a flash.  And the first track did not disappoint, feeling like what I missed from Rephlex – spidery, jittery electro beats that twist and turn in unexpected ways, something deeper driving things than just a need to groove, though that need is obviously there as well.  But after repeated listens, I’m brought to wonder if Alright! isn’t Bogdan’s attempt to replicate, to a certain extent, that acid-house vibe.  Near the tail end of the album he tosses in something more typically experimental, with a wandering keyboard line and some blips and bloops that seem to accidentally stumble on one another – but otherwise it requires a few listens to get the nuances out of the record, as the majority of the tracks really just go for the same drilling drum n’ bass vibe, with a couple layers of keys that have the loose feeling of some of that classic stuff.  It’s not as varied or as nuts as some of Bogdan’s other work – at least not on an initial listen – but it might serve as a good lesson for how to tune my ears into some of this 80s jive.  These are quality effin’ beats, but be prepared to be pummeled with the same beat for the majority of the album.