Flashin' On

Gabriel Le Mars 2017 long-player finds him on the proverbial roll. Hes already established a comfortable benchmark here amongst his peers, but as hes an elder statesman amongst them, its reasonable to expect that he will lead where others follow. Flashin On doesnt disappoint, but then, why should it? Le Mars been such a longtime presence on the various scenes (ambient, downtempo, IDM-inflected groove music, etc.) that hes practically sui generis; he was kicking out his own brand of space jam back when his colleagues were content with spinning faceless techno bollocks in their basements, and as hes an artist who never looks back, this latest slice of sparklingly inventive beat music fairly ups the ante. Production-wise, Le Mars in a class of his ownFlashin On simply sounds amazing: synths duck and cover with rippling facility and beauty, rhythm patterns spill out moire-like variations with all the colors of a gumball machine losing its loot, and the subsequent atmospheres are nothing less than warm analog bubble baths. Best of all, Le Mar knows how to make his machines rock: We R1 has a great, lumbering gait and rubbery bass line that makes the air literally molten around it. We can always use more of Le Mars praxis groove thang.