REVIEWS

Architect
Lower Lip Interface

Hymen Records

Posted: Tuesday, July 17, 2007
By: Ilker Yücel
Editor

Daniel Myer has proven to be one of the more prolific artists in modern electronic music, having made a name for himself in the industrial/EBM scene with Haujobb, and foraying into other areas of gothic, electro, and IDM with a variety of other projects. The most prominent of these projects is Architect, which with this third full-length release, Lower Lip Interface, demonstrates Myer's propensity for intricately programmed rhythms and complex arrangements of synthetic noise. With tracks like "Catch the Target," "Get the Bastards Get Away," and "A Caine in the Brain," malevolent bass lines resonate amidst a pulsating display of pumping beats, topped off with just a hint of distorted ambience to give the tracks a gritty edge. Other songs like "Caballa Smells Funny" and especially the album opener "Ghost of a Working Man," in which Myer's voice is manipulated to a screeching goblin-like whisper, take a more conservative approach, focusing more on cavernous waves of reverb-laden ambient melodies. Myer even gives us a bit of drum & bass on "Stairway" with its blistering breakbeats, while "Pissed in the Morning" builds the tension as light pulses of percussion gradually present themselves among echoing hits of synthesizer tinkering. Topping off the album are some remixes, with Torrent Vaccine's version of "Ghost of a Working Man" opting for a noisier approach, retaining Myer's demented vocals, but transforming the eerie calm of the original with frantic glitches and heavier beats. Nebulo's remix of "Stairway" is notable for its emphasis of the melodic pads over the breakbeats, while Synnack's version of "A Caine in the Brain" bears little resemblance to the original, closing the album out on a frenzied note. Architect's music has always possessed a high degree of energetic atmospheres and is usually a veritable smorgasbord of distorted synthesis sure to excite people onto the dance floor, while still creating enough depth and texture for a heavily involved listen through your headphones; Lower Lip Interface is no different. This third Architect album may not represent a dramatic shift in direction, but there is something to be said for the level of consistency Myer is showing with this project, still giving listeners a heavy dose of atmospheric IDM.