- Playful house from the Workshop camp.
- Brian Eno probably considers the Windows 95 startup sound a footnote in his oeuvre. Contemporary listeners may disagree. Its six perfectly formed seconds sound amazingly prescient these days—you could imagine them slotting into a Oneohtrix Point Never record. Fans have turned the sound into blissful time-stretched soundscapes and extended loop pieces ("This is literally vapourwave [sic]," says one commenter). Am Kinem's treatment is a little more offbeat. "Acer Ways" is unusually pacey for this purveyor of offbeat house and hip-hop, though its 140-BPM beat is tempered by the sound of the drums: dull kick, wooly clap, rattling hi-hats. At first he bleeds in just part of the Windows ident, a cautious repeating tone and subtle string chord swell. Later the chimes start to ripple richly and a whimsical lead line joins them in duet.
The rest of the EP is equally playful, fitting the Out To Lunch-Workshop tradition of winsome, weird dance music. (Am Kinem worked with Out To Lunch's Lowtec as far back as 2011, when the latter remixed the former.) Hooky basslines and gentle melodies are played on tinny synthetic instruments, while grooves stumble winsomely over their own feet. On "Sureyoucan," hooks and arps shuffle and recombine over a rumpled house groove. "Mies Haram" is less carefree. Its clotted keys recall Floating Point's "Shark Chase," and parping synth horns dart uneasily around the biscuit tin kick drum. The strangest of all, though, is "All Battles Won." One reference point for its chunking, discoordinated drums and manic strings might be Hieroglyphic Being. A dash of sweet melody keeps this volatile mixture from total meltdown.
TracklistA1 Sureyoucan
A2 Acer Ways
B1 Mies Haram
B2 All Battles Won