Ital Tek: Mega City Industry (Civil Music)

This new foursome from Ital tek continues along the same trajectory he’s been on for the last several years, particularly his recent Control mini-album for Planet µ. It’s his second outing for Civil Music after his Hyper Real EP last year. The contrast of fast and slow is again at the core of these tracks, but there is a gravity to these tracks that lends them a certain mystique that might be closer to his Nebula Dance album. “Mega City Industry”’s arrangement is big and spacious, full of reverberated chimes and pads while his signature patient halfbeat anchors it with a serious poker face.

It reminds me of Jamie Teadsale’s sounds as Kuedo, but perhaps it’s less that they sound similar and more that they both seem to derive inspiration from the dystopian landscapes of Blade Runner and Vangelis’s harmonious score. “Shinra” skitters with activity despite its slow halfbeat anchor, with bassline and melody all flitting in sync like the nervous twitching of wings. “Swamp Beat” leans more into dubstep territory with a heavy-handed beat and dubbed out sounds, but his trademark sputtering patterns here sound almost like an inversion of the sounds of his Gonga EP on Planet µ. The most melodic complement to the title cut, however, is in closer “Universal Decay,” a handsome piece of work brimming with bending pads and rolling arps.

Though by no means is Mega City Industry a deviation from Ital Tek’s recent stylings, it is nonetheless a handsome companion. Recommended.

Buy it: Civil Music | Boomkat | Bleep | iTunes | Amazon