12k is one of those rare labels that manages to stay in business despite the fact that they fly completely under commercial radar and that they’ve been quietly hosting some of the best electronic music out there for a couple of years now. I stumbled across their roster purely by accident, and come to think of it, I’ve never heard a whisper about them from the mainstream press. Many of their artists cross-pollinate with German minimalist label Mille Plateaux, and there’s a shared style between the two labels, but where Mille Plateaux tends to trade in dry academics, 12k works from a more organic and emotional template.
Shuttle358 is the alter-ego of Dan Abrams, who had a track under his own name on the second Clicks & Cuts compilation. Like his labelmates, he makes very quiet, minimalistic stuff. If you’ve heard Sogar, Vladislav Delay or Pan Sonic, it’s in that vein. However, Abrams tends to work with a warmer feel and over a shorter timeframe. The result is far less icy and strident than his peers’ work. This is his third album, and though he’s not breaking any new ground, it’s nice to see he’s pulled in the reins and gotten consistent in his work.
For the most part, Chessa’s a great record. The only real clunker is the ponderous “Marsch,” but the strength of the other material here more than counterbalances it. At first, I was a bit underwhelmed, but unlike last year’s Understanding Wildlife, this record doesn’t wear its stripes quite as prominently, and it takes a bit to warm to it.
He still builds his work on his familiar ringing drones, but where many of the tracks on the last two records used glitches and skips to simulate percussion, there’s very little punctuation here, and it’s a little difficult to find an anchor in several tracks. The general feel is hazy and languid, and each track flows into the next without any perceptible change. Think of watching dust motes float through a sunbeam. The feel is uniform and homogenous until the closing track, which actually features genuine guitar and a drumkit. It’s a bit of a jolt, like the phone ringing during an afternoon nap, but oddly enough, it fits right in.
It takes a bit of effort to get into this, but it’s certainly well worth the effort, and if you’re not acclimated to the genre, you could do worse than to start here. It’s available from 12k records, and while you’re at it, check out Apikal Blend by Sogar.