Other Avenues - Atavistic (Self Release) [Electronic Music]
- The Slow Music Movement
- 4 hours ago
- 2 min read
Information is thin on the ground, but Other Avenues, Jason Roberts to his family, is an enigmatic, somewhat eccentric by the look of the photo, musician and producer hailing from San Francisco who I stumbled across back in 2022 when I was smitten by his quirky, lysergic Analog Education single.
After 5 years and a few oddball singles, he's just released Altavistic - his debut album, and it's as idiosyncratic and wonderful an electronic music excursion as I'd hoped for. Some old school beats and a humming drone announce the journey and then comes a sultry female French vocal that should get the electronic aficionados dreaming of Parisian trysts, but just as you're booking the ticket, the track springs into life with some loose, danceable beats that suggest the dance floor rather than international travel instead.
The broken house beats and acid squelch of "tsondoku" will keep you there too, as Robert's microdose kicks in resulting in a gently trippy ambient house excursion that suddenly sheds its beats halfway through and descends into hazy ambience. Next up is the return of "analog education" the single that first turned me on and, well, just take a listen and try and describe it yourself.
"The Wiggle" then takes us straight back to the dance floor for a somewhat familiar but pleasingly far-out house excursion that should appeal equally to the Saturday night groovers and brain cell losers. It's peak album now, and "apropos of the wet snow" throbs and lazily pumps through the speakers, a well judged anchor for another cosmic atmospheric voyage. "Tampolis" sees the lights of the club turned on, but eases the pain with some unhinged vocals vibes and an acid infusion to keep the party going, in your head at least, whilst a chugging four four riddim augmented with hand played drums will help propel you home.
Finally on the sofa it's time to unwind with the classic sounding smoker friendly "comala". Just as your eyelids are getting heavy and you start to wonder how you're going to get up the stairs, the album then has something of a flashback as the mood lightens and the tempo gradually increases, just the uplifting vibe bed bound breeze you need.
Playlist Companion
Find Other Avenues in the Slow House Playlist, amongst others.