Fennec

There's a song on this album with the word Kowloon in its title. I somehow noticed that white stepping into Fennec's world, and it quickly painted a darkened vertical slum of an entire city this album seems to take place inside of. 

Whoever the hell Fennec might be, there's a shitload of brooding ass burnt motherfuckin hues on the painter's pallete bro. The entire R.I.P. City album goes from one definition of dank to another with such subtle intensity, I'm certain this is the electronic album of the fall, even though it dropped this summer. 

Since R.I.P. City is a gapless listening experience, I've taken to it on the whole, unsure of track names or exactly when I'm leaned over with my eyes closed lost in the thoughts of nothing in particular. The entire album plays out like one of the house tapes I spent my gas station job money on in high school, courtesy of the handful of DJs I grew into as I figured out that 'thoughtful' was a trait I loved most in a DJ. The blends from the eerie to the frenetic are fluidly and carefully tacked down, yet as soon as you're likely to be enticed onto the dance floor you're gas pedal deep in a futuristic Tron-like high speed chase through a ghetto outlined in only puddles and flashing neon signage. 

Fennec's songs are a pleasantly erotic mix of synthorganic rhythms and sampled drops of familiar modern music quips, making them feel both "I know this" and "what the fuck is this?". And while I've had this asshole of an album playing in the background of my life for the last four weeks or so, it feels like I've relied on it more when I'm alone and need of turning my brain off for a brief respite from responsibility than when there's other people around to nod their heads with me. 

If you're keeping score, there isn't much fluff on this fucking album. Right after the intro hath introed, you're off and running with a consistently fucking awesome string of badass. From "God Amongst Men" into "Kowloon Chain" and then "Mazzed" and "Dragon Flag" into "Steroblind", Fennec doesn't seem to need tracks of nothing but noise or hiss because there are songs dropping that feel both introvertedly serene but simultaneously HEY BRO WE SHOULD ALL HAVE THE SEX WHILE THIS SONG TICKLES OUR COLLECTIVE PICKLE. 

R.I.P. City is a fucking perfectly executed example of instrumental electronic music and there's only so many ways to say it without sounding redundant. Yet while I consider R.I.P. City to be more on the darker side, the little ethereal flutters or twinkles splashed throughout are like sporadic jokes told inside a mortuary, as they're more than welcome in this shithole. The juxtaposition of morose and beautiful is exactly what I think of when I imagine this album, and I imagine you should insert this album into your side faceholes as soon as fucking humanly fucking possible.