- Legowelt churns out records like a one-man assembly line, each packed with hummable melodies and foggy analogue textures. They're almost always good, but how many of them you actually need depends on your level of commitment to his very particular sound. If you've heard any of Danny Wolfers' releases over the past three years, you can guess what Crystal Cult 2080 sounds like (from the artwork to the music itself, it's not far from his last LP , The Paranormal Soul). But even if there's the nagging feeling that we've been here before, Crystal Cult 2080 is, like most of Wolfers' work, hard to fault.
Crystal Cult 2080's defining feature is its namesake, the Roland JV2080 digital synth, which Wolfers bought on tour in Japan. Wolfers' sound is brighter here than it was on The Paranormal Soul, and reflects a distinct allegiance to early '90s dance music. The way "Psychotic Endurance" puts inky synths and distant speech snippets over a rip-roaring bassline echoes Aphex Twin's "We Are The Music Makers." "Fundamental Superstition" is a different kind of IDM pastiche, cushioning rave stabs and whistling flutes with pensive synths. Tracks like these balance a resolutely retro sound palette with a cheekily futuristic outlook, borrowed not from '80s sci-fi flicks but campy '60s B-movies.
Wolfers' typically impish attitude also manifests itself in tunes like "Excalibur R8MSK2" and "Ancient Rites Demoni Mundi," which play with the self-seriousness of their titles, full of uneasy keyboards and whispering vocals. XOSAR sprinkles her pixie dust on the moody "Crystal Cult 2080," and acid makes its requisite appearance on the perky "When The Spring Comes Again," the album's most buoyant moment. All of these tracks are cloaked in a deep fog of reverb, which makes them feel both illusory and impossibly deep. Do you want another album of shimmering analogue house from Legowelt? If the answer is yes, then Crystal Cult 2080 will do you just fine.
Tracklist01. Awakening
02. Ancient Rites Demoni Mundi
03. Excalibur R8MK2
04. Psychotic Endurance
05. How I Live
06. The Future Of Myself
07. Fundamental Superstition
08. Crystal Cult 2080
09. When The Spring Comes Again
10. Cyberspace Is Still Happing For Real
11. Lighthouse Fried Fish Disks (CD Only)
12. A Distant Meadow Of Your Soul (CD Only)