After a gargantuan first try on Vancouver’s 1080p, Complete Walkthru returns for a pyrotechnic session with the equally non-didactic ‘Social Security‘, a second ten-track album released today via McFerren’s newly-launched eponymous label.
If you followed Max McFerren from the very beginning, you’ll have noticed that despite the cold-blooded industrial minimalism and well-rounded dubs of his first techno tunes for Shoot The Lobster and Aery Metals, the crude iron of his cuts was that of an unsteady alloy, fully bound to boil and splatter out of moulds and dies – as rapidly confirmed by his following experiments under MCFERRDOG and Complete Walkthru monikers.
‘Social Security‘ doesn’t need much time of adaptation to immerse you in its multi-level virtual fantasy: ‘Ya Gonna Die‘ dissolves in flocks of pixelated broken-chords and ethereal bleeps and bloops whistle along like clouds of 3D-rendered birds; ‘Sickly Ghastly‘ flexes a raucous sub-bass and playful synthlines for a perky journey across scuzzy jungle reliefs, whilst ‘Raw Outline‘ and ‘DoDa Strut‘ are finespun slabs of trippy electronics with their aborted vox samples crossed with 2-step, garage-esque rhythms – all in all two of the album’s bestest.
McFerren’s midas touch turns light-hearted jaunts into memorable mind-trips and day-to-day companions. If the blindingly vivid ‘Cryptos On Tiptoes‘ is a soothing daydream in itself, ‘Welfare‘ conjures a naive bouncy bassline to exhort all dancers back onto the dancefloor. But just as Adventure Time’s candy kingdom has its most hidden and mysterious nooks and crannies, ‘Social Security‘ has its darker facets.
‘Gonna Fucking Do It‘ works a febrile electro-tech blend, oscillating from clear-toned arpeggios to sizzling bass flare-ups as a demonic voice resound in between machine squeaks and tape-saturated crust. Back to a free-party state of mind, ‘When I Was Young…‘ showers beastly 909 kicks upon sensitive synth canopies that suddenly go off in glitchy outbursts.
Primal as it gets here, McFerren doesn’t just showcase his versatility throughout ten cuts of the finest ilk, but proves that the cohesiveness of one’s musical vision lies less in the respect of collective standards than in one’s comprehensive understanding of his inner self’s plurality.
Social Security is out now via Complete Walkthru Records, grab it from Bandcamp.
TRACKLIST
1. Ya Gonna Die
2. Sickly Ghastly
3. May I
4. Rain Rain Rain
5. Gonna Fucking Do It
6. Raw Outline
7. Cryptos on Tiptoes
8. When I Was Young I Followed She Fell Industries
9. Welfare
10. DoDa Strut
Discover more about Complete Walkthru and Complete Walkthru Records on Inverted Audio.