‘Wayward Belgium electronics’ would require several volumes of a radical music encyclopedia to even loosely engage the topic, and part of that reason is the endless river of new names that keeps cascading up from the cobblestoned sewers. Thibault Gondard floated on to our music map early this summer with a self-released LP of overdriven keyboard muscle, echo-warped skrewed-down drum machines, lulling air raid sirens, stained glass synth tonal pools, and alien soul vocal manipulations, and Avontuur is his freshest (and best) batch of tracks, which also functions as a debut of sorts. The opening cut, "Avontuur," is as hybridized and electrifying as any he’s crafted thus far, slicing through the speakers with a stuttering codeine cassette-ready beat peppered with reverb handclaps and minimal keyboard riffs jacked through junk shop speaker cabinets. He’s just embarked on a two week European tour with ‘glue-wave’ post-punkers The Dreams so go huff his fumes live if he crosses yr flight path.
MP3 $6.93
12/19/2011