Gombeen & Doygen - D'Americana / Auto-Lies

  • Krautrock, dub techno and minimal machine funk rolled into one.
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  • Four years after Gombeen & Doygen had an underground hit with their first collaboration, "7000 Years," the duo of Morgan Buckley and vocalist James Grünfeld are back with a 12-inch aimed at the floor. The crew behind Wah Wah Wino—the label Buckley runs with Omid Geadizadeh and Olmo Devin—usually keep their heads down, leaving a slew of in-demand records and a maze of aliases to do the talking. They specialize in unusual material from the downtempo fringes of electronic music, only occasionally sharpening their tools into something for the club. Enter D'Americana / Auto-Lies. As with much of Buckley's work, Gombeen & Doygen's tracks submerge introspective vocals in a heady brew of rhythm. On "D'Americana," Grünfeld flows in vocoded German about travelling to the US, set to a deep, dubby bass pump, Maurizio-style chords and a circus of sound effects. It's more straightforward than the stepping chugger "7000 Years," but the strangely hypnotic effect still doesn’t let up for the nine-minute duration. You would be forgiven for thinking "Auto-Lies'' is the same track. The arrangement, sound palette and deadpan lyrical delivery are cut from the very same cloth, it's just a little darker and sparser. It's a bit like how vocal dub techno records often come backed with a "Version." When the sound works so well, why change?
  • Tracklist
      A D'Americana B Auto-Lies
RA