REVIEWS

Jack Dark
Z-Sides

Posted: Wednesday, March 29, 2006
By: Ilker Yucel
Editor

It could be argued that IDM (the acronym for the Intelligent Dance Music) is the most revolutionary form of electronica currently in existence. Filled to the brim with complex arrangements of skittering beats and electronic glitches that sound somewhere between a dot-matrix printer on the fritz and a malfunctioning computer, IDM is one of the most understated, and perhaps the most elusive subdivisions of underground electronica since the heyday of primitive industrial in the late '70s and early '80s. Artists such as Aphex Twin, Autechre, Otto Von Schirach, Squarepusher, and Jimmy Edgar have demonstrated this style of music's capacity to be at once disturbing and soothing, painful and pleasurable, agonizingly complicated and deceptively simple. Now, a new artist by the name of Jack Dark is rising up to give the scene a proverbial kick in the arse.

After a series of free EPs available for download on his website, he self-released his final free EP Z-Sides as a companion piece to his full-length album Vagabond Neologist. Combining elements of synthpop and electroclash with the unpredictability of IDM, Dark's music is as fascinating and enticing as it is eerily disconcerting. The eight tracks on Z-Sides were written and recorded in a three-month period, but you wouldn't be able to tell from the level of technical experimentation at play here. "Confessions of the Shadow" opens the EP with a barrage of dark ambient soundscapes and a grating spoken vocal that sounds as if it had been spewed from the bowels of hell. "Digilord" comes in with some intriguing shuffles of stuttering beats and electro bass lines, while "Dirty Little Fantasies" and "Just a Dream" sound like soundtracks to a perverted circus clown's mind. "Piano Overfiend" is a clever experiment of a dark piano piece, but still with the requisite glitches in the sound and timing to make it even more ominous. The bouncy "Ruminator" just bellows with incredible vocoder effects mixed with percolating percussion, making for one of the lighter moments on the EP. "The Dark Sunshine" has an almost urban jazz feel to it with its manipulations of breakbeat and hip-hop loops, though the overall rhythm is near impossible to determine. Finishing things off is "The New Blood," with a pumping tempo that ends the EP on an urgent note.

A true pioneer of the modern age, Jack Dark's unique sound comes partially from his own set of plug-ins, designed by the man himself. This acts not only as a testament to the benefits of today's software technology, but showing Dark's twisted vision as a sound designer. With the weirdness factor turned up to 11, many listeners will find this music baffling at the very least, if not completely put off by the lack of anything resembling a standard melody or catchy hook. Nonetheless, the absolute originality of Jack Dark's style cannot be denied. Nobody in the genres of electroclash and IDM can claim to be as stunningly chaotic as this. This is not to say that fans of Aphex Twin and Otto Von Schirach won't find anything of merit. The only other problem with Z-Sides is the overall mixing and mastering; the sound quality is high on the treble, resulting in a lack of ambient warmth that can cause a few earaches. However, if you can stand it, Jack Dark's Z-Sides is a brilliant excursion into just how far electronic music can and still has left to go.