Prolific micro-modular technician Nick Edwards aka Ekoplekz presents his best album by a mile with 'Unfidelity' for Planet Mu. You may (or may not) have noticed a dearth of recent releases from the former blogger-cum-musician since his Morrisian gush of fertile ferric ideas covered the release schedules between 2011-2013 under myriad names - Nunton Complekz, EKOCLEF (with Bass Clef), PLKZFX (with Nochexxx), Ensemble Skalecktrik, and eMMplekz (with Mordant Music) - on almost as many labels. To be honest this head just couldn't keep up with them, and for every ace we'd find a couple we weren't feeling. However, in conjunction with Mike Paradinas, Ekoplekz has remedied that issue by finely parsing his output down to eleven aces on 'Unfidelity' which perfectly portray his now-tempered, but still wayward tendencies. Combining the experimental electronic sensibilities of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop with the rhythm-driven approach of King Tubby and Harmonia's gauzy kosmische drift, Ekoplekz's sound feels constantly in flux between dimensions and mental states, as though struggling to remember a dream but never quite getting there, leaving us with wonderfully murky impressions full of oneiric references. His rhythm-based cuts feel more stripped down and effective than ever before, from the skudged techno of 'Trace Elements' and the thrumming jack of 'Nerva Beacon' to the skittish post-punk stepper 'Pressure Level' and the moon-boot skank of 'Sleng Zen', but our favourite bits are those that exist in between the spaces, as with the roiling industrial sci-fi homage 'Robert Rental', the head vacuum space of 'Severn Beach' the frothing, dub-anchored radiophonica of 'Unfidelity', and the alien exotica vibes of 'Coalpit Heath'.
