After relocating to the Chi-city in 2011, Ryan McRyhew has clearly absorbed a nice dose of Chicago-dance influence. As manifested in his upcoming release as Thug Entrancer, McRyhew has delineated a unique assimilation of analog dance exploration and arcane experimentation. Set to release on the beloved Daniel Lopatin’s Software, Death After Life is an eight-chapter progression that hones innovative analog brilliance, acidity, and a decidedly comfortable engagement of traditional techno-house motifs. In “Death After Life I,” the opening sequence and 808 jams both bobble under dragging synth evolutions. While our heads are spinning in the mix, we are given bursts of jukey-snare riddims that centralize and swing us on our journey. The calming yet obliquely meditative realm is uniquely powerful, especially when smeared on traditional dance elements.
“Death After Life I” is accompanied by an incredible, post-worldly 3D video rendering, directed by Milton Melvin Croissant III. The video is just as much a mind-winder as the track, and even more so when combined. We follow an ominous perspective as it progresses through a deconstruction of consumerist sci-fi aesthetics. We meet a friend with gloriously rag-dolled hair, before entering into its’ Star Wars mouth and climbing escalators into “techno-torture chambers, heavenly mall arcades and triumphant head-bangers,” as Milton describes. Ultimately, we’re brought to the pinnacle of the fluid construction, where questions of god might emerge. Totally interpretable, deliciously intriguing, and slyly satirical.
“Death After Life” by Thug Entrancer will be available February 11 via Software.
• Thug Entrancer: http://t.co/j0Cu470yUz
• Software Records: http://www.softwarelabel.net
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