- It's hard not to compare Tin Man's Neo Neo Acid with Recondite's On Acid. Besides coming from the same label―and just a couple of months apart―the two albums share seemingly identical aims: exploring the torpid, melancholic side of the 303. Though not the first to cover this angle, it was arguably Tin Man who re-awakened the idea that acid could remain affecting at such a sluggish pace, using last year's downcast Nonneo as his tool. With On Acid, Recondite proved there was plenty more room for this kind of thing, delivering a further six doses of his own lethargic 303, plus two remixes.
Surprisingly, it's Neo Neo Acid which feels the more upbeat of the two albums. Where Recondite's cuts were almost relentlessly desolate and woebegone, Tin Man's insistence on constant percussion adds noticeable brightness. The LP is filled with contrast, dirge-like 303s lifted by sprightly drums and hats. Even the lazier tracks canter rather than crawl. Some are outright pumping. "Devine Acid" plays with pensive overtones, for instance, but its monstrous low-end renders it a dance floor slayer. A similarly hefty thump undergirds "Plastic Arts," where Tin Man teases increasingly long strands of acid from the heaving mass at the track's centre.
However, that's not to say Neo Neo Acid is outright cheerful. "Finger Paint" is a nuanced slice of melancholia, its donging 303 contested by flurries of xylophone―an instrument almost incapable of sadness. "Absurdist Acid" doesn't sound sad so much as it does weary and content; the comfy chair after a long day. Other times, Tin Man is reminiscent of a plastik producer: "Manifesto Acid" evokes the same surrealist mood as 1993's "Plasticity."
Neo Neo Acid bears the hallmarks of a producer utterly at ease with his craft. It's diverse, but doesn't feel like it's straining to be so. The narrative arc is patient, logical and understated. But most importantly, when the album's final bar fades out, there's little doubt left as to the continued validity of making an entire LP of 303-based music, some 25 years after the sound was first discovered.
Tracklist 01. Museum Of Acid
02. Manifesto Acid
03. Devine Acid
04. Futurist Acid
05. The Muses
06. Plastic Arts
07. Finger Paint
08. Absurdist Acid