Kangding Ray – Or

I completely don't understand why he hasn't released it on vinyl

There are a couple of moments on this album where everything snaps sharply into focus and your face breaks out into a wide grin. Clearly, this artist knows how to make crisp and succinct electronic songs which move at a cut throat pace yet the choice is reflective of the balance which "OR" exhibits. It is neither totally accessible nor is it completely given over to monotonous repetition in the name of 'difficult listening'. There are some nice, urgent almost submerged vocals and you just can't help but think, I wonder what this guy would sound like if he worked with Andrew Lagowski. A lot of what I'm hearing on this record I have heard over the years in Lagowski's work, specifically the 'Digital Force Planning' and 'Tz' albums. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy what's going on here but it's not what I'd call groundbreaking or revolutionary.

I suppose if the 'intelligent' side of techno had continued to flourish and hadn't been eaten alive by the majors during the 90s, this is where it would have wound up. "OR" is coldly precise and there are some wickedly placed atmospheres but this guy seems to be a victim of doing what has been done many times before. It's a shame, really, because the backgrounds in these tracks are vividly composed and they continually morph throughout the length of each composition and if you've not been listening to experimental electronic music for long, Kangding's latest is going to be manna from heaven. It surely is riveting with incredible attention to detail and the synthetics employed sound magnificent but for all the well executed programming it isn't unique enough to stand on it's own for me. Something to play while segueing into stranger things.

David Letellier gives us another masterpiece. 'Or' is in some respects even better than its predecessor, 'Autumne Fold' (AF): better in the organisation of the material, from the terrific intro 'Anthem' to the epic and melancholic 'La Belle' the listener has the feeling of an accomplished journey into Kangding Ray's musical world; better also in the structure of the tunes, which is more fluid and dense in this album. The expressivity of each track in 'Or' is as powerful as it is in AF, you really perceive the unfolding of parallel dimensions for each texture of a tune (get some decent headphones to appreciate all of them). Add to this a more explicit dance attitude, especially in tunes like 'Pruitt Igoe' or 'Coracoid Process,' and you get the idea of how perfection should look like.