2 out of 5

Label: Isness

Produced by: Tom Croke and Steve Hackett

Take note: this album does not deserve this review. It don’t mean no harm, and it’s, y’know, good and stuff. But I’ve been a bit triggered by Analogical Force’s sublabel Isness’ zen vibe, and Night Owl Committee follows an already-established trend of the sublabel putting out things that sound exactly like other things, and I’m further triggered by that “thing” in this case being pretty removed from AF’s other output – which is generally Rephlex-influenced IDM – which I suspect is going to make some listener’s shit their pants with the belief they’re getting something wildly inventive and new.

But, no. This is electrofunk. This is the entirety of, like, the early / mid 00s output of Warp; it’s an easy listening version of what Brainfeeder does. It’s what the twee Chicago indie kids gleaned on and started adding whispery vocals to on Thrill Jockey.

This is a me problem. It’s not that I don’t like this stuff – although, fine, I often don’t – but it’s also that NOC are mimicking a fairly barebones take on it, in line with my easy listening snipe above.

Towards the end of Drownded, the EP takes on some shape I wish the NOC duo would’ve pushed more, incorporating some dissonance and noise into / on top of the beats. That’s a more nuanced take, and closer to what I was hoping Tom Croke (Bewwip) would bring to his part of this group. I get into the album at this point, even to the extent of forgetting I was triggered – I legit start to dig the music – but I have to listen to some things several times for review, so that feeling kept getting lost.

To be clear, I don’t dislike you for liking this. It’s fun. It’s funky, and the production is solid, blending organic percussion with electro-ized 70s groove, and sprinkling some fun synth pops around. You will bob your head. My bias aside, I don’t think it’s very deep, as told by pretty short runtimes, but more directly, most of the tracks don’t evolve much – the focus is on getting the sound out there. Fair. But if this does seem groundbreaking to you, I do suggest you maybe start with Brainfeeder and start to poke around from there; there are groups pushing on this sound in much more inventive ways.

I’ll calm down at some point. And by the time I do, I hope it’s when NOC returns with some iterations on those later tracks, because that is something I’d be down with.