Greater Cascadia, the latest dispatch from Zachary Wright under the Deceptikon moniker, is actually an updated version of an identically-titled 12-inch released earlier on Merck Records with seven tracks newly added to the original's eight. Though Wright recently relocated to Tokyo via Seattle, the album itself was recorded in home studios throughout the Cascadian region ( Seattle, Olympia, and Vancouver), hence the title. Almost five years in the making, Wright's solid Lost Subject follow-up finds Deceptikon redefining himself as an electronic artist dedicated to instrumental hip-hop than anything IDM-related.
The album's fifteen snappy struts are stitched together from crisp beats, synth basslines, samples, field elements, and chiming keyboards but act fast 'cos they're available in a pitiably minuscule run of 200 copies. On the rhythm front, funky breaks, lurching clip-hop beats, and sputtering glitch-hop abound, while sparkling keyboards and accordion provide the elegant and sometimes wistful melodies. It's great material, teeming with fresh ideas and both sonically svelte in design and lush in character. Wright keeps the material uncluttered while also warming his head-nodding beats with melodic sparkle (the marriage of hiccupping beat flow and gossamer string shimmer in "Almond Groves," for example). CCO hip-hop outfit CYNE blows verbal fire over the bleepy head-nod of "Montana," and even fragments are worth recommending, like "Backward Forward Reverse," which Wright chops into sweetly stuttering hip-hop funk, and "Evergreen," whose piano- and clavinet-based hip-hop indicates Wright's fully qualified to be a next-level hip-hop producer. Get this man some more MCs!
77/100
Greater Cascadia represents the second album release from Zack Wright alias Deceptikon, an album of pleasant electronic instrumentals not unsympathetic to the hip-hop ear. A blending of samples, synths, and live instrumentation, the overall effect is often organic, melancholic harmonies waxing and waning over steady rhythms and simplified-sounding breakbeats. The general consistency of mood and texture is both strength and weakness, however; subtle, ever-evolving arrangements make for a compelling, unifying listen, but also create a soundscape wherefrom the mind is given to wander.
Attention seldom wanders far ---some change always occurs that hooks and reels the listener back in, whether it is the lilting piano samples in "Evergreen" or the guest appearance of hip-hop act Cyne on "Montana." Several of the tracks are of a fragmentary nature, and the disc could almost pass for a beat tape if not for the variation within individual pieces. Consistency in mood should not be mistaken for lack of composition.
The compelling aspect of the album lies in the arrangements, both of the tracks themselves in relation to one another and within individual tracks. Songs are composed of seemingly simple individual parts that are then layered and introduced in very varying ways, creating a Zen-like emphasis on the overall effect in spite of the constant variation. The same applies to the entire album; the feeling of the whole lingers more than the tracks. This from an album that was supposedly composed and recorded over a five-year period, in several locations! There is clearly an individual presence and personality to be felt, albeit one who reveals himself in a slow, unfolding way rather than directly pointing at himself with every measure.
Only 200 copies were made of this CD, which at 15 tracks nearly doubles the tracklisting of an earlier-released and similarly-named 12-inch. An unfortunate scarcity, when compared to the decent quality of the music. It appears that his website sells mp3s, which may be the only way for the interested to hear.
Not to overstate the man's influence on up-and-coming producers, but Dilla comparisons might be in order for Japanese (sic) beatmaker Deceptikon as well. Granted, there's also a pretty significant amount of Prefuse 73-ish-ness to many of the compositions on Greater Cascadia, his newest releases, out now on the the now defunct Merck Records, too. But a track like "Almond Groves" has all the organic warmth and grit, in addition to the subtle synthetic undertones, of a Ummah-era Jay Dee production. All eight tracks on the disc are instrumental, with the exception of "Montana," which features the Gainsville, Florida-based Hip-Hop crew Cyne kicking lyrics over Deceptikon's stuttering drums and electro-bass programming.
Zack Wright's Deceptikon site indicates that his handmade Japan tour CD Birds Of Cascadia is already sold out-not that that should surprise anyone too much, given that it was produced in a ridiculously small 100-copy run (those who missed out won't have to wait too long for new material, though, as Wright's prepping a new full-length, Greater Cascadia, for an early 2007 release). The tour CD might be a patchwork of unreleased songs and remixes (Machine Drum, Blamstrain, Tiki Obmar, Direkt Jive, Winnie The Shit) but its 40 minutes sounds great nonetheless.
A delicious amalgam of hip-hop, soul, and electropop, Birds Of Cascadia is unpretentious and, seemingly by design, modest in ambition yet never less than satisfying; a cut like "Footsteps In The Fire," for example, with its laid-back vibe, silken strings, and funky turntable effects, charms effortlessly. Some cuts hit harder (the remix of Blamstrain's "Alive In Arms (Japan re-edit)" while others are as warm and enveloping as the softest blanket (Wright turns the lights way down for the gorgeous treatment of Tiki Obmar's "Akeney, Iowa"). With its sputtering bass lines and jaunty rhythms, the Machine Drum overhaul "Inner Outer Offs" encapsulates the collection's generally jubilant spirit, while "Dre Will Have His Day" features some memorably funky voice edits and squealing boom-bap. The Deceptikon formula is actually fairly straightforward-"Defenestration" essentially gooses a phat bass and funky hip-hop beats with a heavy snare slap-but the tunes' sing-song melodies and techni-colour sound provide a constant source of pleasure.
Originally harking from Portland Oregon, producer Deceptikon has decamped to the towering urban expanse of Tokyo - a move that has in no way diminished his keen eye for loping beats, heavy atmospherics and disrupted melodies. With the Merck imprint finally laying down its head for an eternal sleep, this 12" helps see the label off with some aplomb - as Deceptikon further tunnels a successful furrow between the output of Machinedrum and Proswell. Opening with 'Greater Cascadia Unified', loping yet sprightly beats soon part to reveal a landscape of rolling breaks and video-game flourishes that are hip-hop to the core but a distant relative to the sonic tail-chasing that characterises much of the genre. At eight tracks long there's plenty of value for money, with Cyne showing up on 'Montana' to bestow some carbonated Miami vibes, whilst 'Moaning Logic' ups the breaks per minute for some vibrant party attitude. Welcome to Cascadia...
Strip away the MC, and hip-hop can very easily walk the border of bland and even bad: it's not ambient, it's not for dancing, and there's only so much stoned head-nodding you can do before your neck cricks again. When there's nothing to grab hold of but smoke, things can easily slip through your fingers. Portland-based Deceptikon largely avoids drifting into the ether, though, by grounding his debut album in an earthly love of jazz and melody that posits him not many miles away from Britain's premier laptronica whiz kid, Four Tet. Opener "Narcissus" proves that more people should make use of things that sound like a Theremin, while glitch and noise are used to add concentric layers of groove rather than to subvert melody and structure. On "Autumn Storm", a jerking, smiling beat is pilled with flutes and a broken acoustic guitar (or maybe banjo, or maybe zither!) to winsome effect. Tracks are kept mercifully short and concept free, allowing melodies to shine briefly and keeping beats from ever reaching tedi um. Swells of keys add space and distance, double bass brings some swing into the proceedings, and occasional majestic horns and mournful strings ("Ox Conservatory") make the playful into the profound. It's a very fine line, but Deceptikon walks it well. Heads will nod.
Nick Southall
Dans un entrelacs de rythmiques luxuriantes et de melodies ludiques, Deceptikon, jeune musicien base a Eugene en Oregon, optimise la renaissance d'un hip hop instrumental, confesse sa preference pour les loops avenantes et encourageantes, ainsi que pour les ambiances lounge parcourues de voix fantomes. Abstract hip hop s'acoquinant avec l'electronica, Deceptikon met tout son talent au service d'une musique privilegiant la respiration, le souffle, au vagabondage de terrasse. Avec "Germanic", "Autumn Storm" ou "Figural Phonograph", on decouvre la brochette gagnante: l'alliance impeccable de DJ Shadow, Cinematic Orchestra, Funkstorung, et Boards of Canada.
Laurent Guerel
3.5/4 stars
As Portland's first laptop battle winner, Deceptikon has a winning combination--solid beats, cool sounds, and interesting songwriting. His ability to keep heads bobbing with hiphop rooted breakbeats and a large palate of sounds helped him win the battle; these are both what makes his debut full length so hot. The songs flow together with rhythmic patterns and of melodies that can be playful, eerie, and beautiful. The arrangements show a mature restraint by not getting bogged down in too many layers or complexity, but they're far from formulaic. This is an exciting debut, especially because he can represent it all live, and there's got to be more heat on the way.
Aaron Miles