- A steady stream of quality 12-inches from the likes of KM / MM and MGUN in 2012 considerably widened the audience of the previously cassette-only label The Trilogy Tapes. Further releases by Tuff Sherm and Anthony Naples have solidified its status as a home for some of dance music's most intriguing producers. Though most of their releases are idiosyncratic takes on house and techno, _moonraker's debut EP is particularly bizarre—and quite compelling.
Where _moonraker's earlier releases dabbled in the cosmic while remaining wedded to a techno blueprint, very little of Lowjit Vagrants can reasonably be called dance music. "Oronimbus" builds on a tinny synth loop with New Age bells and, eventually, a drum-led groove. Though its noodling passages are enjoyable, they're also a bit precious. "Plot Query" is more balanced, its thrumming, syncopated drum pattern complementing the ethereal timbres nicely—that is, until the tempo rises and the spacey vibes unexpectedly give way to a propulsive forward motion. "Cyan Lean" is a three-minute ambient interlude with more accelerating drums, and the closer "Tilt March" feels like an outlier, even on this already eccentric EP. It offers a darker take on the other tracks' spacey psychedelia, working alien percussion and volatile grooves into its patchwork of fuzzy drones.
TracklistA1 Oronimbus
A2 Plot Query
B1 Cyan Lean
B2 Tilt March