3 out of 5

Label: alien communications

Produced by: Various

Quality names in the modern electro scene are gathered by label Alien Communications for… a release.

Look: there are some good tracks on this compilation – arguably, all of them are, with some definitely better than that, and some others verging on great. But if I may offer a very surface level critique, the album title and artwork scream generic 90s chill house mix, and even the copy from the bandcamp page (“A 12-track journey through the realms of electro”) sounds like the vague description of something you’d order from a catalogue, back in that same era of “10 tapes for $1” magazine ads. A lot of these tracks are throwbacks to that era of electro, in a sense, but I’d want a bit cheekier take on this if that was purposeful.

The vinyl pressing is quality. The beats and synths are rich, and the touches of acid or IDM that are present show off that both high end squelches and low end bass sound good. I wouldn’t say each artist brings their A game, necessarily, but I would say they met the assignment, which I assume was to do something befitting the label’s (to my sampling) moderately laid back, minimalist style. And while I realize that’s a narrative I’ve made up, there’s some wise sequencing applied here to give each side of the the 2xLP at least one slightly squigglier track, breaking up what are otherwise pretty repetitive tunes, of very similar tonal registers. Meaning: I feel like the ask was made, and a lot of good stuff came back, but most set aside some typical quirks of their output and did the job too well; like they all came up with the same end result.

The set is by far not as same-soundy as I’m making it out to be, just that most tracks are around the same BPM and tone, so it’s easy to zone out to. And that might be your goal, but here are there when we get someone who goes off the beaten path – ERP’s opener hits with a bit more groove; Fasme totally just does their own delightful thing; DMX Krew closes it out with a delightfully weirdo electro beat that harkens back to Ed’s rarer IDM work – it makes you start paying more attention to the rest of the music, casting light on how it tends to be less unique than those highlights. But again, not unique is not bad, and the tunes are totally chill; but can I identify most of these artists based on these tracks? Not really. (Wholly admitting my electro ears may not be the most nuanced ones.)

I spun through this several times over, repeating the cycle mentioned above: I’d hear a notable tune, start to feel like the set was clicking, then be zoning out before I realized it. If you’re after a particular artist on here, the linearity / minimalist of their offerings may surprise you, and maybe that’s worth the price of admission. It’s probably better to approach this as the surface read suggests: a compilation of chill techno. On those grounds, it’s a pretty good set.