As one third of Argriculture Records notional ’supergroup’ WeTM, Rich Panciera joined DJ Olive and Once 11 in not only crafting three fine albums in their own right, but also acting as top shelf suppliers of premium ‘illbient’. However, it was in his own one-man disguise, Lloop, that Panciera dropped the sampler-friendly ‘Bulbb’s’ in 1994, and thus chiselled a small hole for himself in the Story of Contemporary Music. The quasi-mixtape excursion was not only a fractured tale of NYC (with field recordings ripped from city streets), but to this day remains a renowned slice of the nascent illbient sound.

It’s taken him fifteen years to record the follow-up Lloops release, and thankfully there’s no notion of any retread here. As the story opens on ‘60 Hertz’, it’s clear that Panciera has embraced the bassline – not strictly forgoing the sense of infinite space on ‘Bulbbs’, rather tethering that echo chamber to both dubstep and ragga rhythms and to organic instrumentation in both fight and flight modes. As a preview, ‘Lei-Tzu’ (below) offers a mesmerising two-step journey into Middle-Eastern territory, exhibiting a nod to Filastine as a sonic brother in arms.

‘60 Hertz’ is out now on The Agriculture, available digitally via Boomkat – check The Agriculture blog at postambient.blogspot.com

Lloop – Lei-Tzu | mp3

img | Spookygonk