5 out of 5

Label: Analogical Force

Produced by: Keith Farrugia

The previews of this left me a bit underwhelmed. Analogical Force can be a bit of a toss-up (for me) between groundbreaking artists, and those who’ve gotten crazy active within the last few years – but in a way where it suggests they’re still discovering their sound. When I don’t know the artist (quite often the case), I’ll try to check out their discography, and Sound Synthesis – Maltan producer Keith Farrugia – has the lengthy discography criteria, but it actually stretches back for a good chunk of time, and finds the artist sticking to certain labels, which I tend to take as a sign of growth, or identity for completely unscientific, likely inconsistent reasons, though in short: you’re more clearly evolving if you’re sticking with the same audience.

Not wanting to spoil my first take of Radical Meditation, though, I held off on other samplings, and waited for the full AF EP to drop. And: whether it was because I’d blue-pilled myself to a more positive take or not – though I don’t think I’m that easy – my ears were blown, as Farrugia did the most magical two-step not just exactly across eras of acid and IDM, but in a way where the music never quite settles where you think it’s going to, while remaining “traditional” in some senses. Like there’s a DMX Krew appreciation for analog-feeling house beats, but Farrugia kneads the production so that you get a kind of digital precision with an analog live sound, and then he’s dilly-dallying with Rephlex-style breaks, some synthwave flashes, modern grime…

Psychological Force is the masterpiece in my mind, using the buildup of some slightly more linear electro to do the most blatant version of the above magic trick, grooving and housing and IDMing at the same time; closer Emozzjoni works in a wild-ass synth solo. But I get my very initial, high-level underwhelment, because Keith isn’t flashy about this stuff: Sound Synthesis pursues the beat, and all the rest props that up. So at a pass, it sounds kinda standard, but give it a second longer and you’re bound to catch some kind of leftfield element that also somehow sounds like it absolutely belongs.