Oyl - Urm

No idea who Oyl is, so don't ask, and this debut is a suitably murky and mysterious affair, a waking dream cycle through a liminal space that draws in elements of techno, ambient, musique concrete, sound design and collage aesthetics without ever really seeming to be any of those things. Perhaps Urm might be best understood as a contemporary reimagining of the fourth world, a rhizomatic construction with no defined root or end, though obviously some mutant offspring of techno. And this isn't exactly hauntological, though comparison to Actress wouldn't be too far off the mark if you were to fold an entire album of tracks into one long form piece. Don't be mistaken, this sounds NEW. The two sides are presented as continuous tracks, which contributes to the disorientating, woozy effect, various fragments of sound spilling into one another like memories of things that have yet to happen. And then there's the part around halfway through side two that shapeshifts into a gossamer thin take on Autechre square wave electronics, ending a good ten minutes before anyone would get bored of it. It's a bold bit of music making this, demanding a lot but never permission. Edition of 150.