Dryft - Ventricle

The year 1995 saw the emergence of the San Francisco based industrial group known as Gridlock which was composed of Mike Wells and Mike Cadoo. Over the course of four highly acclaimed albums Gridlock swiftly evolved from a brooding, severely Skinny Puppy influenced electro industrial project into an ambient/downtempo juggernaut that received critical acclaim from both inside and outside of the industrial scene which culminated in their final release Formless on the Ant Zen sub-label Hands in 2003 before splitting up in 2005.

Mike Cadoo has since continued as a solo artist under the names Dryft and Bitcrush and has also been busy running the n5MD Drum n Bass label for quite a few years now. The first Dryft album titled Cell was released in 2002 and was a solid Drum n Bass album full of excellent beats and grooves albeit heavily tinged with a dark undertone not present in most of that genre. After this album and a followup EP titled The Mytotyc Exyt Cadoo seemingly abandoned Dryft in favor of Bitcrush which focused on more of a Shoegaze/Ethereal sound with a healthy dose of Glitch thrown in for good measure. Now after 8 years of silence he's finally released a follow up to Cell under the name of Ventricle. So now that the history lesson is over let's get to the album!

The opening track Recalcify quickly awakens the old ghosts of Gridlock as its lush pads and sparse atmosphere completely envelop the listener with a haunting melody. But instead of regurgitating the things that made Gridlock so great to begin with it becomes clear very quickly that his work from the last 7 years has taken the lead as the track slowly develops into a full blown melancholic piece complete with a great IDM beat. A great start for the album and a standout track all around. The second track Marked Velotin continues the momentum of its predecessor and builds on it and leads nicely into the third track Knives as Gifts. For the first time the sound of the first Dryft release is invoked as the track launches into a full out breakbeat while the melodies and pads swirl around hypnotically until it dies down and segues into No Bargains, No Pleas which is the second standout track off of this album. This one start off quietly and builds into a mesmerizing wall of noise which then recedes into an interlude of silence.

The entire album's remaining 5 tracks which I won't cover in full except to say that Track 6 - Vapours and Waste, Track 7 - Transmission and Track 9 - Reprise are the remaining standouts in an overall masterpiece of an album. Mr Cadoo has seamlessly interweaved the best parts and influences of all 3 of his projects into a cohesive vision which is the payoff of over a decade of experience. The production shimmers in all the right areas and has the dark nasty grittiness to complement that shimmer perfectly. To top that off, the entire mix almost feels as if it's floating out of your speakers courtesy of the top notch mixing and mastering process.

To sum it up: Fans of the long dead Gridlock will rejoice at the prospect of an album which truly captures the mood and feel of that project whilst welcoming the surge of new influences that were never present in that projects body of work. Newcomers looking for an introspective album for those dark moments in the late hours may have just found their potential soundtrack with this album as well. I highly recommend this album to anyone interested in finding something out of the ordinary and am eagerly awaiting a followup to this album. Jun 19 2012