Kuedo: Severant - Album Review

Kuedo
Severant
Rating: Grrrr

One half of the moody, dubstep duo Vex'd, Jamie Teasdale, aka Kuedo, drops the beat heavy compositions in favor of a more retro-leaning sound, pulling from sources such as Vangelis, Mike Oldfield, and Tangerine Dream, to create a languid collection of pristine instrumentals that sound both futuristic and anachronistic at the same time. The most obvious touchstone would be the icy instrumental soundtrack to Blade Runner run through a Georgio Moroder beat machine, but the contrast is with the vaguely hip-hop-esque beats, with crisp snares and tinny hi-hats. While a few tracks hint at Teasdale's more BPM friendly work, the majority of tracks unfold deliberately, taking several listens before their charms are discovered. The synths are sparkling and clean, and the programming is precise, and you get lost in the world that Teasdale creates. In fact, the more I listen to the record the more I find myself entrapped in its beauty.

Dark and sensual tracks like "Whisper Fate" ride on tight waves of programmed beats, punctuated by stark, cold synth lines.



"Scissors" edges towards dubstep territory with a deep bassline, but pulls back, to allow the skittering beats to take over.



"Reality Drift" uses a throbbing bassline and crystalline synths to build to a swell of strings that is gorgeous.



And I fell hard for the rumbling, skywards leaning "Seeing The Edges," whose each second unfolds a new sonic detail.



There are a few moments where his ideas get the better of him, and the execution is just not as perfect. "Salt Lake Cuts" has a funky, wobbly bassline, but ruins it with pedestrian beats that don't take the track to the next level; "Onset (Escapism)" again takes an interesting idea runs it a little too much into the ground; and two short interstitial tracks ("Shutter Light Girl" and "As We Lie Promising"), while pleasant, are both situated at the end of the record, and don't serve any real purpose. But aside from these quibbles, Severant is a decidedly strong release. There are hints at future directions to head; the delicate ballad "Memory Rain" with its strong melody and fractured vocal samples, is the most "pop" sounding track on the record.



And the driving, ephemeral "Vectoral" is a more beat-heavy track that shows his sound can lend itself to the dancefloor.



This has been a fairly strong year for electronic music, and it is going to be very difficult to make a list that can include them all. Severant is another album that goes in that long list. For those searching for something that lands squarely in the middle of the mind and the dancefloor, you cannot go wrong with this record.

Rating Scale:

Chilfos: masterpiece; coolest thing I've heard in ages.

Woof Daddy: excellent; just a hair away from being a masterpiece.

Grrrr: very good; will definitely be considered for my top releases of the year.

Yeah Daddy Make Me Want It: good; definitely invites further listens and peaks one's interest for more material.

Meh: not horrible, but certainly not great; could have either been polished, trimmed, or re-thought.

Jeez Lady: what the hell happened? Just plain bad. They should hang their heads in shame and be forced to listen to Lady Gaga ad nauseam as penance.

Tragicistani: so bad, armed villagers with pitchforks and torches should run the artist out of the country for inflicting this abomination on the human race.