Mitgang Audio

Toronto’s Suction Records hit the bull’s-eye with one of the finest releases the electronic genre has produced in ages. Brooklyn’s Ray Sweeten is the man behind Mitgang Audio and he expertly blends his love of early ’80s synth pop, contemporary electro and IDM on this very impressive debut. Aside from the world of electro-pop, he creates a Detroit techno sound on "Binary Life” that Kevin Saunderson would be proud of and even makes a nod to classical music structures on "The Escape.” The album’s thrilling opener, "Minor Causes,” is a perfect example of his pop sensibilities and is possibly the best electro-pop song of the past year. Sweeten clearly has a gift for melody as well as programming. The vocals are all given the vocoder treatment, but the effects used in this case give it a soft touch, avoiding the abrasive tones so commonly associated with electro tracks. More than half of the vocal tracks are in Italian, an appropriate gesture to his influences past (Giorgio Moroder) and present (he held a two-year residency in Italy). The Mitgang Audio’s landscape is at times cold, but always inviting. The ideal blend of organic analog sounds with crisp programmed beat structures is hard to master, especially when trying to wrap them around a melody. The fact that Sweeten has figured this out on his debut demands attention and points toward a bright future indeed.