Mexico City's Umor Rex label dropped four new cassette releases on October 20. Among that batch is the self-titled debut tape from Levels. Recorded in Geneva, Switzerland, it offers 10 "miniatures" written to mimic levels in a computer game.
There's plenty of ear candy here, some of it quite creative. Levels opens with a pretty track called "Corridors" on which the beats resonate beautifully, and the connection between their echo and a couple of white noise additions is a lovely detail. "Gp-17," another strong track, features spoken word layered over an industrial-style beat in a nice, respectful throwback.
The concept is terrific — music is increasingly a priority in video games — but from a compositional standpoint, there's not much to grab onto here. Levels features a really nice palette of electronic sounds, but there's too little done with it. Because the tape includes 10 short tracks, it feels too much like a scan of ideas rather than a deep exploration of any one.
These are the kind of recordings one imagines existing mid-process, before the artist begins to write the final compositions. In their present state, they feel unfinished.
(Umor Rex)There's plenty of ear candy here, some of it quite creative. Levels opens with a pretty track called "Corridors" on which the beats resonate beautifully, and the connection between their echo and a couple of white noise additions is a lovely detail. "Gp-17," another strong track, features spoken word layered over an industrial-style beat in a nice, respectful throwback.
The concept is terrific — music is increasingly a priority in video games — but from a compositional standpoint, there's not much to grab onto here. Levels features a really nice palette of electronic sounds, but there's too little done with it. Because the tape includes 10 short tracks, it feels too much like a scan of ideas rather than a deep exploration of any one.
These are the kind of recordings one imagines existing mid-process, before the artist begins to write the final compositions. In their present state, they feel unfinished.
