After starting his career working with hip-hop collective Pro Era, Fred Warmsley has remained musically and stylistically restless, moving into breakbeat, electro and noise music with his two celebrated LPs released as Lee Bannon. Under his latest moniker, Dedekind Cut, Warmsley seems destined to challenge his audience even deeper, fully exploring lo-fi and ambient sounds.
On first listen may seem that the Sacramento musician has remained static on his second LP as Dedekind Cut, as much of it resembles the ambient sounds found on his prior release, but after repeated spins it's clear that Tahoe shows Warmsley pushing his craft into even more exploratory areas. Over eight tracks and 50 minutes of music, Warmsley plays with time and rhythm, keeping his longer compositions feeling fresh and durable. After a few tracks of absorbing, straightforward atmospherics, Tahoe really begins to stretch out during the album highlight "MMXIX," a track that throws a plethora of ideas into 10 minutes — including Japanese bells, warbling SFX and throat singing — before pulling it all together with blissful waves of sound. "Spiral" completely flips the script, adding a cascade of noise across three minutes before closing out with the pensive, gorgeous hum of "Hallow Earth" and "Virtues."
Tahoe is the kind of ambient album we've come to expect from Warmsley — mostly due to the fact that it's not your typical ambient album.
(Kranky)On first listen may seem that the Sacramento musician has remained static on his second LP as Dedekind Cut, as much of it resembles the ambient sounds found on his prior release, but after repeated spins it's clear that Tahoe shows Warmsley pushing his craft into even more exploratory areas. Over eight tracks and 50 minutes of music, Warmsley plays with time and rhythm, keeping his longer compositions feeling fresh and durable. After a few tracks of absorbing, straightforward atmospherics, Tahoe really begins to stretch out during the album highlight "MMXIX," a track that throws a plethora of ideas into 10 minutes — including Japanese bells, warbling SFX and throat singing — before pulling it all together with blissful waves of sound. "Spiral" completely flips the script, adding a cascade of noise across three minutes before closing out with the pensive, gorgeous hum of "Hallow Earth" and "Virtues."
Tahoe is the kind of ambient album we've come to expect from Warmsley — mostly due to the fact that it's not your typical ambient album.