Montreal’s premier electronic-music adventurer stakes out new turf with his first Internet-only album. Available through his Web site (www.davidkristian.com) – with a song (Pegel) that’s hot on the MP3 Top 500 – this collection returns Kristian to somewhat more accessible territory. While he’s still in a world all his own, he brings the beats back – subtle, strange rhythmic constructions. Add a universe of knob-twiddled, synthesized sound, then merge the two and you’ve got another notch on the belt of the city’s most prolific sound scientist.
As Kristian himself joked in an interview a couple of weeks ago, female colleague i8u makes him look conservative this time out. Leaving behind beats altogether, the anonymous artist creates cold, dark electronic environments that evoke bad dreams where nothing happens. i8us Web address is www.i8u.com. Kristian: Rating four; I8U: Rating three
T’Cha Dunlevy