- If a piece of music is a vessel for ideas, then Bjarki's tend to overflow. Since the launch of his bbbbbb label, he seems to be getting ever more blasé about splashing the carpet. Something Weirdcore, his debut as Cucumb45, was a riff on classic UK hardcore. Its follow up drowns that approach in a torrent of bizarre sonics and capricious left-turns.
The zaniness of Bjarki’s music can be derivative of a particular artist. It's not just this EP's incomprehensible track titles that recall Aphex Twin—"Cyxlobblobs5" and the pedestrian "B.u.s.y" evoke him in their imagining of a synth-funk played by sentient machines. Elsewhere, though, Bjarki gets bored of aping the master, as he does of everything (usually after about 30 seconds). Gooey rave chords hover uneasily next to the Plastikman drum charge of "Aqua Elba," as if these musical elements are uncomfortable associating with one another and will be leaving at the earliest opportunity. The rest of the EP sheds even basic decorum. On "Cyclops í poka" and "CATpitchd5," fidgety beats repeatedly form and then tail off, as if unconvinced of the worth of carrying on. You might, at first, try to follow the musical narrative, but after a while the bits between the beats—whooshes of fizz and digital crackle, Radiophonic bleepscapes, clouds of insectoid chitter and squeal—start to tell a story of their own. It's as if hyper-intelligent aliens are trying to communicate by means of an FM synth. Maybe someone should tell them that's not what it's for.
TracklistA1 Cyxlobblobs5
A2 Cyclops í poka
B1 Aqua Elba
B2 CATpitchd5
B3 B.u.s.y