*Includes download code redeemable from the label* "Machinedrum wanders dazzling electronic architectures in 'Vapor City', his follow-up to the unanimously appreciated 'Room(s)'. Operating at the vanguard of the jungle/juke/electronica nexus, 'Vapor City' is a hyperstitious soundtrack to a metropolis which the Berlin-based producer regularly visits in a recurring dream, imagining a romantic, chimeric panorama of hyper complex rhythm structures and super sleek synth contours rendered with breathtaking sound design. Building on the American/European fusions of 'Room(s)', he laces elements of jungle and juke into something insolubly syncretic, best heard on recent single 'Eyesdontlie' and explored to dreamy extent with the multi-tiered slow/fast flex of 'Gunshotta' or the cybersoul sweep of and swoon of 'Center Your Love'. The immersive lucid dream effect percolates across the album, largely thanks to his incredible, illusive mixing trickery and feel for a hook that seems to suspend time and space, as with the cloud-cushioned rollige of 'Rise N Fall' or the hypersoul lushness of 'U Still Lie', and with stunning effect in the aerated mesh of field recordings, acephalic soul samples and pensile bass prod in closer, 'Baby It's U'. No doubt it's an impressive work, finding that rare balance between pop appeal and headlong futurism.
