Sach O prefers his videogames 16 Bit
When it’s all said and done, videogames will be the one common unifying element of our generation. Whether you were into rap, a goth kid, a skater, a raver, a metalhead, a nerd or any of the other thousand subcultures floating around in the pre-internet 90’s, you were definitely playing Sonic the Hedgehog and Mario Kart with the rest of us (unless your parents sucked.) Sara Abdel Hamid AKA Ikonika, was one of those kids who spent her youth absorbing the sounds of Sega alongside those of pirate radio and years later, the melodic sensibilities and emotional heft of those early chip-tunes and garage hits power “Contact, Love Want, Have”.
In case you think I’m reading too deep into it, check the track titles: Insert Coin, Yoshimitsu, Continue, Final Boss, Good Ending…these are the words of someone who’s spent significant time in an arcade. But CLWH stands out from the (chill) wave of nostalgic gamer tunes by being crystal clear: polished to a sheen instead of buried in the haze of memory, allowing the listener to focus on the music’s futurism rather than any ironic retro-appeal. The result is an album concerned with saturated color, pure motion, melody and kinetic energy instead of weed-addled nights in front of the TV screen.
Take “Idiot” for example, the song is a blast of propulsion from its melodic hook to its post-halfstep drums. Not quite UKFunky, not quite Dubstep and not quite Garage, it fits perfectly into Hyperdub’s post-everything mix of Bass music, as perfect for long, headphone assisted subway rides as bass bin powered club nights. Constantly shifting, previously released singles like “Millie” and “Sahara Michael” seem to pack 5 melodies each and it’s hard to tell if you’re listening to a four on the floor stomper, a dubstep swinger or a Soca-influenced Caribbean dance tune when the drum patterns refuse to settle into a clear groove. By the time we reach “Look (Final Boss)”, the synths have gone trance but the rhythms have gone the opposite way into complex-yet-danceable syncopations, a combination that’s way better than it has any right to be.
Beyond technical prowess, “Love Have Contact Want” actually works as an album proper, communicating darkness, light, humor and sadness. Though not as bracing as a Burial record (few things are) and devoid of the vocalists populating Kode 9 and King Midas Sound’s universes, the album’s contrasting minor key melodies and upbeat riddims are more than the sum of their parts, interlocking to express a vision of urbanity caught between beauty and despair. The city in its physical form is as present as any virtual landscape: after all those old games were designed in Tokyo and their sounds filtered through to the dance music played out in London. It’s to Ikonika’s credit that she built a quality album around these musical ideas without falling pray to a dreaded “Concept” and hell, even her missteps have their charms: sure “They are All Losing the War” is one drum kick away from updating the Mortal Kombat movie theme…but that’s kind of awesome if you think about it.
Danceable yet deep, “Love Have Contact Want” will appeal to the Hyperdub massive and may yet find the label some new fans. With her melodic sensibility and admitted love of classic pop, Ikonika’s music defiantly reaches for fans beyond Bass music’s boundaries (I can only hope the rumored Nicki Minaj collabo works out). For now, she’s dropped the best “Dubstep” record of the year, Kode9 continues to run the most forward-thinking label in music and if ever Capcom’s looking for a new composer, they won’t have to look too far to find one.
Download:
MP3: Ikonika – “Sahara Michael” (Left-Click)
MP3: Ikonika – “Made in Glitch Podcast 11”
