Send "Plaid " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Pitchfork |
 Over the past several years, as European electronic music's moved from its all-minimal-everything phase into fuzzier areas, I've made a mental note of comparing no less than a dozen young producers to Plaid. I didn't listen to Plaid-- British production duo Andy Turner and Ed Handley-- very much, not even their 1999 mini-masterpiece Rest Proof Clockwork. Instead they remained faintly but firmly ensconced in my memory, the result of a burgeoning electronic music fan seeking a group Radiohead wasn't constantly namedropping (scratch Aphex Twin, Autechre), but that was still available at Sam Goody. I would never suggest that Plaid were a direct inspiration for a group like Mount Kimbie, though there are worse things than being a token in the revival of soft-focus, reasonably scaled beatmongering.Scintilli is Plaid's first non-soundtrack work since 2008 and their first proper studio album since 2003 (2006's Greedy Baby having been an audio/video collaboration). It doesn't count as a "new direction" for the duo because they've never really fucked with "direction" in the first place. At their best, Plaid nestled into the wide crevasses between hardline, dystopian techno, broken beat, and experimental composition. Their synthesis was recognizable but not unrepeatable; they stood out for their casual, unhurried sense of adventure. (In the late 1990s, they were called Intelligent Dance Music because their records had "Warp" on the back, and they didn't sound like Moby.) There's a danger in this lack of direction, though: sometimes you exist comfortably outside electronic-music narratives and sometimes you get lost. Scintilli isn't the first time Plaid have stumbled into the latter state; all things being equal, they operate in this mode better than most. Still, Scintilli underwhelms, lacking the ease with which Plaid used to stitch sound together. They're no longer inscrutable; like their previous work, Scintilli contains heavy doses of sounds that rile, pacify, and intrigue, but here they constantly tip their hand. The dolloping keyboards of "Craft Nine" calm; the walloping bass of "Sömnl" disrupts. Plaid's skillful incorporation of the female voice remains intact (Björk sometimes seems to aspire to "Lilith", her 1997 collaboration with the duo) on soft-footed opener "Missing" and closer "At Last". Their overall sound has remained eclectic even as their tracks grow compartmentalized. I still appreciate Plaid's baselessness-- how I can never quite place what I'm listening to. They're less diffuse than their late-90s Warp peers but far more so than, say, Mouse on Mars or Flying Lotus, artists with whom Plaid share sensibilities but little more. I find Scintilli-- and its ambitious alternating of composure and chaos-- admirable, but "admirable" sounds (and feels) like a backhanded complement. I would prefer to find it fizzy or confusing or aggressive. Scintilli is a disappointingly static record from a duo of born tinkerers....full text |
| Beat |
| Missing softly blooms as delicate petals of sound roll open to join one another. An angelic female vocal floats through the song, making its way above harmonious synthesized guitar sounds. The unassuming calm then gives way to Eye Robot. Just as the title would suggest, it is an amalgamation of harsh drum machines and jaunts of distorted keyboard noises, all together creating a haze, as if making ones way across a misty swamp. Like an operatic climax to a science fiction film, Thank is a pop song turned first-person-shooter; navigating a player through a maze. Strange sounds bounce off unforgiving metallic walls with bright splashes of sound lighting the way. Plummeting into a slumber is Craft Nine; a simple midnight lullaby. Underneath the tender keyboard melodies are various breathings of noise adding to the late-night dream. 35 Summers feels light-hearted as chimes trickle in uneven waves. However despite its romantic atmosphere, a more sinister air rattles beneath its surface, while African Woods is full of jungle beats constructed with concrete; an emulsion of business attire, elevator music and trudging through the viney undergrowth of a sweltering forest....full text |
| Beatsandbeyond |
| Ever since their first album Mbuki Mvuki (1991), Plaid has carved their own niche in the realms of otherworldly electronica and experimental soundscapian compositions. Avid followers of the enigmatic duo will be aware of their fascination for mystifying experiments when it comes to musical aesthetics: a pathos that seems to make up most of the outfit’s output. End September sees their home label Warp releasing Scintilli (Latin for I Am Many Sparks – click here to read more about the album’s concept), a highly intriguing and very sophisticated collection of multi-dimensional electronica… As on virtually every album of the UK duo, the highly dynamic and colorful Scintilli consists of tracks that often are a mix of hypnotic, shoegaze soundscapes and bits of indie, folk, and ambient. 'Missing' opens the album with a lovely mix of folk guitars combined to soft, almost transparent pads, while follow up track 'Eye Robot' is a much darker, more electronic piece of drone-styled ambient. Beats are provided on uptempo compositions such as the vivid yet estranging 'Unbank', a deceivingly ‘happy’ tune underlined by dark twists of melancholy upon a closer listen, and the updated Atari-techno that is 'African Woods', a killer track whose complexity is hidden under layers of what seem to be simple sounding rhythms and melodies. Still, Plaid’s strength lies in crafting sound waves and elements that are slowly transformed in highly emotive and often desolate pieces of electronica. Standout tracks are 'Founded', a fairytale-like piece of folktronica with beautiful vocals and a combination of vocals and synths, the aforementioned 'Missing' and 'Unbank', and closing track 'At Last', which is an exciting mix of deformed drums and lush vocals and decorated with an extremely mellow dream-pop vibe....full text |
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