Available on: Frite Nite cassette/digital

‘Mezcal Hologram’

At various times in the history of music, colour has been used as a way to describe sound. The blues are the most obvious example, but in the modern era we also have the “purple” tag that surrounds Joker. Even beyond genre names, music has been described in the terms and language generally associated with colour: it’s not uncommon to see words like “saturation” and “vibrant” in music reviews, for instance. Indeed the entire style that has grown up and out of the Los Angeles, Glasgow, and Russian beatmaker scenes seems based in colourful interactions between potentially disparate sounds, while the high frequency synths that make up much of this music are associated with bright colors. Is it any wonder that San Francisco-based producer Comma put two and two together and came up with Colortronics for the name of his EP for Frite Nite?

There’s no doubt that the scientific aspects of light and colour are on Comma’s mind, with the opening sample of ‘Ken Griffey, Jr.’ a very science fiction statement: “holographic sequencer online.” The title of the second track, ‘Mezcal Hologram’ only deepens the connection. On both songs, warbling synths float over a sea-bed of hyperactive perucssion and, guess what, cinematic washes of colour, but where ‘Ken Griffey’ is a relatively simple mixture of female vocal snippets and drums, ‘Mezcal’ is more complex; low-slung bass, squiggling flourishes of noise and epic chords playing off of each other. If anything, it plays out like an abstract interpretation of early crunk, with cavernous space between the kicks and a mid-range melody slinking like a snake in the grass. The Om Unit remix submerges all of this under a slow-moving layer of dirty, flattening and spreading the individual frequencies.

When the title track references dreams, it’s not surprising to find the music to be a more abstract and psychedelic take on Comma’s usual hip-hop. Everything is a bit duller in tone than we’re used to, which actually allows  Comma’s compositions to shine brighter. By slowing down and letting every note breathe a bit, the songwriting comes to the forefront, showing Comma to be a deft student of melody as well as an exciting sound designer. Colortronic‘s original tracks stop with ‘Evil Snag’, a short and playful song with bouncing samples and simple instrumentation that hides a lovely synth sequence. Whether Comma is working on bright and frenetic rattlers or more meditative themes, one thing is for sure: he paints with sound. How’s that for using colour to describe music?

Keith Pishnery