William Bensussen aka The Gaslamp Killer is one of the future-beat genre champions of the Los Angeles based Brainfeeder record label. It was founded by Flying Lotus in 2008, and since that time Gaslamp Killer has released two EPs on the label – My Troubled Mind in 2009, and Death Gate in 2010. Those releases have set the groundwork for the long-awaited debut album Breakthrough, and 2012 is an exciting time for the LA based producer and DJ.
There are 17 tracks on Breakthrough, but total run-time is just over 45 minutes. Within that space there are no less than a dozen guests, both producers of the same glitch-ilk, and like-minded vocalists. It’s the calibre of these guests that immediately states the importance of Gaslamp Killers place in the current electronic music climate.
After the casiotone-mashed-monster-moan track, listed as the intro passes, it’s the first of two appearances from Warp Records artist, and regular Gaslamp collaborator Gonjasufi on Veins. Weird goodness ensues. The pummelling beats from Gaslamp and Computer Jay with the spooky synths and whistles on Holy Mt Washington, resonate immediately, and together with Critic featuring Mophonic, are DJ Shadow’s late ’90s mutant offspring. Dead Vets and Flange Face are psyched out dark glitch-hop numbers, which lead into the trio of tracks that prompted the most curiousity before listening. Gonjasufi turns up again on Apparitions, with Brainfeeder label mates Daedalus and Samiyam on Impulse, and the Amon Tobin sounding Peasants, Cripples & Retards respectively. As expected, all three are standout tracks.
Amir Yaghmai features on the eastern-influenced Nissim, Ghostly International’s Shigeto turns up on the percussively busy Keep It Simple Stupid, and Dimlite flexes some muscle on Seven Years Of Bad Luck For Fun, which sounds like Cut Chemist on crack. The epic In The Dark closes the album, and is an appropriate bookend for what is an excellent release from The Gaslamp Killer. Breakthrough is brilliantly bleak, diverse, yet consistently inspiring business.
BY SCOTT NICOLSON
Best Track: In The Dark
If You Like These, You’ll Like This: Entroducing DJ SHADOW, One Mans Weird, Is Another Mans World DJ FOOD , Permutation AMON TOBIN
In A Word: Spooky
