Silicon Scally - Soft Robotics
Returning to the Central Processing Unit, a titan of cybernetic funk commences an update to a previous firmware. Silicon Scally's Soft Robotics (2023) opens a wormhole to a genesis point in electro's vast history. Gone are the enormous industrial drums or rapid-fire bass designed to tear the hair from your head. In replacement, some soft robotic beats. This record celebrates the birth of the electro genre while still incorporating new production techniques, becoming an amalgamation of old-school sensibilities within a crisp modern sound.
Take, for instance, the title track' Soft Robotics', not built for gun fingers, and quite frankly, that's a blessing. We should remember this more relaxed style of electronic music, allowing the machine funk to do its thing. Soft Robotics poses a more emotionally considered voice through long melodic phrases accented with gorgeous deep pads and stabs. Everything has a twinge of the digital, creating an uncanny valley feeling. 'Super Fluid Tones' perfectly represents everything sounding slightly manufactured. Silicon Scally keeps everything rigid while walking that thin line between man and machine. 8-bit sounds are everywhere, but how the phrases evolve is what gives the human element.
In contrast, while celebrating Silicon Scally's ability to slow things down, 'Jitters' speed things up again with constant hi-hats that accentuate a faster tempo. 'Jitter' becomes quite a groover with a throbbing bass that holds down every bar and stabs that are air piano certified. Turning up the intensity for the real hardcore heads, 'Spin Ratio' is designed to be the most dystopian of the four tracks. Hypnotic arpeggios and laser beams over rumbling bass tones conjure visions of the T-1000 crushing skulls. The magic of these tracks is that they have a real retro-futuristic feel. Records like these are why electro will never die. Silicon Scally incorporates playful sci-fi sounds with energetic pseudo-seriousness. It's the 80s action movie genre, and Scally might be our Arnold.
Tracklist:
Soft Robotics
Jitters
Spin Ratio
Super Fluid Tones
Label: Central Processing Unit (2023)
Silicon Scally - Soft Robotics
