ROBIN FOX

Editions Mego

  I was overjoyed to receive this in the mail for review, as it’s extremely limited (300 on vinyl, 200 on tape including 2 bonus tracks) and I’m kinda not buying records because I’m saving up to buy a car, so I was afraid I was going to miss out on this one. But it’s in my hands now, and it’s as awesome as I was expecting.

This is Robin Fox’s first solo audio-only release, after a DVD and collaborations with Anthony Pateras and Clayton Thomas. He creates art using lasers, and this album is the sound of technology combusting on itself. Shards of circuits fly past you at hundreds of miles per hour in every direction, constantly changing path and velocity in a neon green blur. A few traces of lost shortwave broadcast flicker momentarily before being consumed. A few drone tracks, such as “Vampira,” offer moments of concentrated dread, in which the machines freeze in terror, tensely anticipating their next programmed fit.

As far as possible comparisons, sure, Tetsu Inoue and Yasunao Tone come to mind, and the title track sounds like Aphex Twin’s Bucephalus Bouncing Ball (minus the melody) gone haywire. But this album truly stands out in the way it portrays several different ways of digital destruction. Not to mention it’s a blast to listen to. For anyone who’s a huge Mego fan, rest assured this one’s entirely worth tracking down.

Paul Simpson
18 August 2010