aaamusic | On 20, Dec 2010

London producer Chairman Kato is readying the release of his ‘Wildfire’ EP for the start of 2011, and in anticipation he has made available two tracks for free download. On the strength of these songs alone Chairman can feel confident that his 2011 is going to be very worthwhile.

Kato’s brand of electronica encompasses snippets of sounds from across the board of electronic music, but perhaps it’d be most appropriate to describe his sound as an ambient hybrid of trip hop and that minimal, experimental dubstep noise they everyone seems to be giving bizzare tags like ‘wonky’ and ‘aquacrunk.’

‘Lunch Cuddle Syndrome’ is an eery tune; it is the sound of falling through space. Into a black hole. In slow motion. The song is built around a solid drum loop and a down-tuned, synthetic sample that’s distorted to be intentionally out of tune – although this makes the track pretty disorientating it has a strange power to suck you in (to it’s black hole) with it’s off-kilter charm. Towards the end of the song Chariman Kato brings in a simple but effective synth, which really nods to Trent Reznor’s (of Nine Inch Nails) work on ‘Ghosts I-IV’ and the ‘Social Network’ soundtrack. Just like Trent, Chairman ensures that despite the difficult, industrial noises that constitute the bulk of the music there is always some overriding and evocative sense of melody.

The sister track – ‘All Trickles Down’ – isn’t quite as unsettling as track one, but it still retains that dark and ethereal atmosphere that is the chief characteristic of Chairman Kato’s productions. Here, a fuzzy and crackly white noise lurks permanently in the background, while a slow paced drumbeat and melodic synth-riff roam, layered with sonic outbursts of sweeping electronic sounds.

These two tracks ensure that his upcoming ‘Wildfire’ EP will be essential listening for fans of moody, slow paced electronica – such as fans of ‘wonky’ acts like Flying Lotus and Mount Kimbie, trip hop acts like Massive Attack, and industrial acts like NIN. AAAmusic looks forward to getting our hands on the EP.

Author: Clive Rozario