Taking Thomas Edison’s adage that ‘to invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk’ as his starting point, Mesak eschews meticulous structures and perfectionist editing in favour of improvisation and raw ideas. There’s plenty of both to be found on ‘howto readme’.
Spacey synth bleeps and bloops, squelchy, dubby basslines and 80s hip-hop beats provide the sonic backdrop to some pretty far-out and experimental tracks that incorporate elements of reggae, dub and krautrap. It’s unquestionably weird, and some parts are not only more successful than others but also more listenable. Some tracks – notably ‘Hilkat Garibereli’ – are neither successful nor especially listenable, but Messi still succeeds in being vaguely amusing in his indiscriminate hybridity. ‘Music of Tonight’ consists exclusively of dialogue sampled from a film, and the woozy 80s robotic electro of ‘Beta Tea (Second Flush)’ ’is ultra-retro and rather cool.
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A mixed bag, yes, but at least its novel.
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