The album “Compro” by Skee Mask was a favourite of mine from a few years ago. Although it works well as a complete collection of tracks and their order within the record is really well designed, a handful of standout tracks are well worth listening to in their own right.

Rev8617 Is one of my favorites from the record. The track focuses on a synth 4 bar pattern that loops with slight tweaks throughout the majority of the track. This fluid synth pattern is then anchored with a shuffling drum section that works its way around the synth line creating an energy and variety that keeps you hooked on the pattern.

After the first third of the track, once the melody and the drums are truly cemented in your conscious skee mask then pulls them apart turning the textures of the synths into wider ambiances and stripping parts of the drums down as some low end comes into the track.

He continues to play with the tracks elements through to its conclusion, taking a short idea in many directions, removing and weaving different elements together so although the track its built up around a 4 bar sequence it never gets tiring. A masterstroke in how you can eek out great electronic tracks from small electronic ideas:

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“Compro” made my album of the year list in 2018 by being greater then the sum of its parts. The album feels like a DJ set. It flows through a collection of different genres of dance music, with Skee Mask’s stripped down sound of Icy pads and complex drum patterns.

On “Soundboy ext.” Skee Mask applies his style to Drum And Bass, with the break being filtered and chopped to within an inch of its life. It is filterd to make it mostly snare and hi-hat, allowing a massive sub bass line to dominate the low end. It gives the track a feeling of building tension throughout, which is partially relieved at the halfway point when the drums are allowed more of the frequency range to dominate the track for a few bars.

For the last minute the drums fade away leaving an ambient soundscape, which provides some respite before the next dark driving track “Dial 247” kicks in.

“Soundboy ext.” is a great track on the album and in its own right and demonstrates the qualities of a rising star in the electronic music world:

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On latest album “Compro” electronic artist Skee Mask takes you on a Journey. Over it’s hour long playtime it morphs from an ambient, dark and brooding textures to percussion led dance music.

The track Kozmic Flush comes towards the end of the album as it’s in full swing. Percussive rhythms, reminiscent of Aphex Twins finest breaks are complex and constantly changing.

These rhythms are underpinned by cold, dark samples and synth textures covered in reverb which warm up in the breakdown before the drums plunge us back into the icy coldness for the tracks conclusion.

The album is great, The track is great and if your a fan of electronic music it deserves a listen:

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