Obscure Languages

Tbilisi, Georgia’s Gacha Bakradze thoroughly mapped the borderlands between ambient, house, and downtempo on early releases for labels like Apollo and Anjunadeep, folding breakbeats, Detroit synths, and Balearic vibes into a style all his own. But *Word Color*, Bakradze’s 2018 album for Barcelona’s Lapsus Records, marked a shift, bringing ultra-vivid sound design to the fore. He continues down this same path on his second album for the label, finding an affinity with hyperkinetic abstractionists like Lanark Artefax and Minor Science. Like them, Bakradze draws inspiration from the overlap between classic IDM and futuristic bass music, and he seems most at home on the furthest fringes of the dance floor. The dazzlingly diced breaks of “Thank You for This Upload” are as tough as anyone could want, but his drifting synths and drawn-out arrangements have more in keeping with minimalist ambient techno; “Frame” teases whip-cracking electro rhythms only to drop the beat out and revel in the purely atmospheric swirl. Throughout, in moments body-moving and head-nodding alike, it’s Bakradze’s ear for detail, and his ability to paint a mental picture with a well-placed sound, that stun. The otherworldly tones that open “Driver” suggest the dripping maw of a snarling beast; glowing pads and sampled birdsong give “Impression” the feel of a holodeck rainforest. Where Bakradze’s work once synthesized electronic music’s past glories, *Obscure Languages* confidently sets off in search of new worlds.

On his second album for Barcelona’s Lapsus Records, the Tbilisi producer brings a rhapsodic melodic sensibility to rhythms that pay tribute to the golden era of IDM.