- This compilation on Eris Drew's label pulls together odds and ends from Ciel's catalogue into a surprisingly cohesive album full of gorgeous electro, jungle and tech house.
- Cindy Li and Eris Drew come together on Drew's latest project: the new, vinyl-only record label Ecstatic Editions. The debut release, Ecstatic Editions Vol 1, is a deep dive into Li's archives of unreleased and harder-to-find material, putting many key tracks on wax for the first time. The record establishes a signature sound within Li's wide-ranging repertoire. Focused on the dichotomy of playfulness and austerity, the project is, against all odds for a compilation, something of a cohesive album.
Ecstatic Editions Vol. 1 is Li's first full-length, comprising nine tracks that traverse drum & bass, house and trance, mixing darker tones with moments of pure euphoria. Each side of the four-part record has its own area of focus. The A-side's flight melodies, like those on the jungle track, "Galapagos," counter the record’s clubbiest section, side B, where Li drops heavy bass bangers with a techno edge. In this latter side, "Za Sui," incorporates eerie melodic toplines with softer elements of psychedelic trance. The masterful genre-meshing plants pockets of levity in an otherwise serious track.
Moving away from the more straightforward dance music of the fist slab, side C introduces sounds that carry a childlike air, despite the precision that Li puts them together with. "Koala Bounces" comes in strong with swung snares and bubbling sounds that paint an almost cartoonish landscape. In this region, she plays with colorful cacophonies that are just off kilter enough to inspire a second, more careful listen.
But the album's most enticing part is the last side, where Li captures the feeling of post-party euphoria. The closer, a remix of Japanese dream pop artist Cuushe's "Beautiful," pulls from the soft and windswept strains of IDM and pop, before grounding listeners with heavier sub-bass. It's quite a contrast to the freewheeling energy of the opening tracks, transitioning from dance music into a wide-open dreamworld of fantastical percussion and ethereal vocals.
Eris Drew started the label due to her frustration with the amount of dance music she liked that wasn't available on wax. Another essential factor in the label's conception was her sheer love for Li's music, and Ecstatic Editions, Vol. 1 makes it obvious why she felt so strongly about it: it's a remarkable survey of a an artist who moves between dance music genres with ease, and always with a measured touch.
TracklistA1 Ciel - Galapagos
A2 Ciel - Hope Breaks
B1 Off the Meds - Wena (Ciel Remix)
B2 Ciel - Za Sui
C1 Psychedelic Budz - Deep Space Rubdown
C2 Ciel - Koala Bounces
D1 Ciel - Le Fleuve
D2 LAL - End Of This World Together (Ciel's Moebius Trip)
D3 Cuushe - Beautiful (Ciel's Inner Beauty Remix)