Lee J Malcolm ‘Folded Spaces’

Lee J Malcolm / Folded Spaces 

Digital 

EPM Music / Released June 2011 

 

What does it sound like?

There are only a few people that can truly say they make electronica for the dancefloor, straddling the usual club focused genres while offering greater instrumentation. It seems that with this debut album Leeds’ Lee J Malcolm has proved his could be a new name to add to that list.

That’s not to say the disc doesn’t hammer out some heads down techno, futurist electro, and tough dark room house. But it also comes with inviting funk-then-trance tipped breaks (such as the beautiful, and multi-faceted Rhodes Home), and deftly realised downtempo moments. Better yet, the ability to create these expansive waves of synth and melody- nodding to original Moog masters of days gone by- is showcased without pretence, and makes complete sense juxtaposed with each neighbouring style.

In short, at times this makes you want to dance like a mechanical juggernaut (albeit most likely fixed to the spot), yet it manages to move through a variety of directions without becoming too challenging. That’s because the most important elements of that which we hear after dark have been retained- groove, impact, and soul- regardless of whether there’s a drum involved.

Where would I dance to it? 

Huge spaces, small places, and most venues in between should all be getting on a bit of this… save for maybe cuts like Massive Slab, which is a pretty evocative soundscape of plugged in string harmonies and broken beat structures fit for a movie perhaps more than a club. Who cares when it sounds like one of the most interesting introductions to an album of this kind we’ve heard in a while.

What highlights can I expect to hear? 

Those after Beyer type stuff might want to check Oh Yeah (a remix of the Ferris Bueller’s Day Off soundtracking 1980s classic), which chugs and splutters its way on a driving course bound for somewhere close to Someone Else, only heavier. Along the same lines Autobus die Tek rolls with the dark seduction of any great deep and dirty progressive house cut, eerily offering twinkling keys and a percussive melody underpinned with one of those 4am basslines.

The biggest tune trophy must be awarded to The Start of Something, which is the size of a festival marquee and could be mistaken for a dawn raid… strained hoovers and driving rhythms then, if little else. Daring to step into other alleyways is essential here though, so don’t overlook the submerged, metallic stepper that is Applicant. Meanwhile the huge chords and vocal loop filled crescendos of Octonicity keep building and building to Cathedral like proportions of ethereal breaks, and all of the aforementioned non-four fours are worth their weight in salt too.

Why should I pay for it? 

Can you not read?

Where can I buy it? 

Juno.


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