The Daily Spin, January 27
Flume | Skin
Welcome back to the Daily Spin, the series in which I review 365 albums during 2023.
Each album will be given a rating on a scale from 0 to 10. You can look at the entire set here.
If you want to suggest an album, good news! You can do so right here!
Album: Skin (2016)
Artist: Flume
Link:
Flume, at his best, is a single-track or short-run LP sort of man, and it shows on this album. Despite his obvious talent shining through, the lack of cohesion is what takes you out of this listening experience, trading choppy synths and wildly abstract hooks in turn with rap-laced couplets and falsettos sparkling above at such frantic pace that it’s like they never fully develop.
Flume stands out as a unique voice in electronic music - though his music lacks the pure production of, say, a Madeon or Porter Robinson, or the soulful splendor of an ODESZA or even a Disclosure, Flume takes the boundaries of sounds that we consider “music” and expands upon them, throwing everything at the wall and somehow making a lot of it stick.
The clear standout from the album, to me, is actually one of the few instrumentals - Wall Fuck, an angry, pounding tune that to this day is still one of my favorite workout tracks because of how utterly relentless the bass and percussion are, launching themselves at each other at speed over and over again. So, too, are Helix and Tiny Cities - less from the angle of anger, far more from the perspective of the immense and wonderful beauty that comes with shining electronica, building to a crowd going wild in a festival hall.
Rating: 8.4/10
Best Tracks: Tiny Cities; Wall Fuck; Helix
Worst Tracks: Say It, You Know