Djet – »Free Translation« (Vaatican Records)
Breakbeat merging into hill billy guitar, opera mixed with experimental ambient guitar, theme park music transitioning into glitch? Djet is back. Russia’s grand master of audio collage, Alex Lisovsky a.k.a. Djet is back with his latest album of luscious deep ambience wonderfully mashed together with anything from classical music to 80’s electro disco to experimental guitar music. I was a fan of his last album, Nightline, but the progresssion in Livosky’s new release is plain to see.
While this is definitely not easy listening, being mostly fairly bleak, and often very intense or harsh, Livosky’s multi-layered compositions truly take you on an emersive journey. The music is at times reminiscent of early Skylab, or the Future Sound of London although Djet’s style is definitely his own. The thing that makes Djet special is his meticulously crafted transitions between often radically different styles of music. Those who appreciate innovation and progressive music should have a listen. Get your headphones, shut your eyes and drink it in.
The one thing I would say against the album is that the mood is fairly bleak. Some of the album is a bit too warped and dark for my liking such as “Soap Opera” or “Muddy Muse,” but those who aren’t averse to a bid of the dark-side, will enjoy his creations here.
The album is really best listened to in it’s entirety, but if I was to pick out individual tracks, my favourites would be Belledanse, Aloe, Dusty dreams and Southeast waltz.
