- "Creatively, I have the feeling that most productions nowadays are completely retro, with not so many ideas and [sounding] all too serious," rRoxymore told Truants last year. She's repeated the sentiment numerous times, most recently in a Q&A for her Resident Advisor podcast. But on Organ Smith she's not entirely averse to retro sounds. There's a Cajmere-esque organ loop among the cluster of bells, gasps and one-shots of the title track, and the flutes and dissonant synths of "Uchi's House" seem like oblique references to the same style. For all that, however, there's a spikiness here that stays true to rRoxymore's creative ambitions.
Organ Smith's spirit of adventure comes from the fun details that rRoxymore applies to her tried-and-tested patterns. (The bells on "Organ Smith," loud and cartoonish, enhance the track's rambunctious gallop.) But when dialing up the seasick swing heard on "Uchi's House," "About Finding The Right Balance" becomes the exception to the rule. Using smeared syllables and clattering glass bottles to dress up a hard-nosed drum track, she fashions the B1 into a nervous, UK bass-style hybrid, replacing the spacious paranoia of, say, a Tectonic A-side with an in-your-face intensity. Whether it calls to the past or the present, Organ Smith's irreverent touches make a lasting impression.
TracklistA1 Organ Smith
B1 About Finding The Right Balance
B2 Uchi's House