Lukid ‎– Spitting Bile

Luke Blair, AKA Lukid, makes tracks that engage in circular structures and damaged sonics that immediately make you think of Actress. As blown out as his tracks may get, though, there's always a familiar touchstone or two left intact. However he puts these tracks together, Lukid is in my imagination less a bedroom VST tinkerer than a cassette-trading, basement-dwelling four track owner, a legend of some nonexistent and long-forgotten lo-fi basshead scene.

"My Teeth in Your Neck" advances this aesthetic, stretching its legs a bit from last year's excellent but monochrome Glum debut. The title cut starts out grim, but quick tempos keep this bummer surprisingly athletic, and a gorgeous solo organ outro lets you off on an optimistic note. If they can get past the tape hiss, listeners will find that "Park It Low" is at its core surprisingly straightforward slow-mo house a la Moodymann. "Spitting Bile" recalls Pangaea, if one could feed the entirety of that producer's discography through a fuzz pedal. A nearly punk-rock bassline drives "Dragon Stout," which could easily be the theme song to the boss level of a video game. There's plenty here for adventurous DJs, but anyone with a pair of headphones will find a strangely gorgeous late night world to wander around in.