Tomas Jirku

Toronto, ON-based producer (also signed to international label Force Inc.), Thomas Jirku's latest release on Alien8 Records offshoot Substractif is his most patient and mature work to date - in that the click-dub sounds are given time to develop on their own. Rather then a traditional assortment of tracks, Jirku created four compositional movements, an ambitious sounding direction but definitely more of what the electronic music scene needs. The opening sounds are subtle in the way a needle crackles and pops at the beginning of a vinyl record - the silent part before the music starts. This recording is all degrees of subtlety; using shadows of dub and rhythm, these pieces, along with samples of running water, leave the impression of drifting along a mist enshrouded lake without a shore in sight. Immaterial is ambient-ish click-dub that can hold its own against anything the Mille Plateux people can throw at it. This is proof that Canadians can hold their own against the internationals and come out on top.