In his first full-length since releasing as Carl Finlow on 20:20 Vision “Apparatus” and his self-released album “Crushed,” Carl Finlow as Silicon Scally takes on a new direction with groovy and intricate Detroit Electro and Kraftwerk-esque themes across “Field Lines” on the indomitable Central Processing Unit label out of Sheffield.
One of the Electro genre’s leaders since the mid-90s, you’d be hard-pressed to find one bad electro track in the discography of this artist as either Carl Finlow or Silicon Scally; that’s really no overstatement. Consistently, Silicon Scally has guided the genre as an inspiration and technologically speaking since day one. There’s always a sort of joy of experimentation and discovery and an evolution to his work that following every output is joy-filled and you garner a new appreciation for his work every time.
In this latest evolution, Silicon Scally takes on a brighter and a cleaner vibe that is reminiscent of the minds of Hütter and Schneider of Kraftwerk, Stinson and Donald of Drexciya, and Mad Mike of Submerge, as well as other Detroit artists and influences from both the artist’s and electro’s past in his latest album “Field Lines”.
The first track, “Receptors”, takes on the elastic-sounding funk of the motor city with a Der Zyklus / Dopplereffekt kind of vibe. The exact and precise drums offer a strong and innate sense of groove timing that is essential for the success of a quality electro track as Silicon Scally provides an evolution of the idea of what Detroit Electro sounds like in 2022.
“Empty Subways” has a foundation on a tweaked vintage drum machine, possibly something close to the sounds of the Korg MiniPops 35, while forlorn, cleanly processed synths call to each other and balance each other out with counter melodies in understated and beautiful ways.
The track “Inhibitor” is once again balanced on very clean drums, but the nod to Kraftwerk is much more evident here in the chords and sequenced turnarounds. Also present is a great blend of watery ‘Drexciyan’ ideas in the mix but with Silicon Scally calling on his own vast experience and ideas. The result sounds like Kraftwerk, Drexciya, and Silicon Scally having a jam, and it’s undeniably dope.
“Amino” again plays with familiar themes popping up in the new “Field Lines” album, possibly passing a nod to “Wavejumper” by Drexciya but has a strong component of sound design to take the liquid characteristics of the underwater synths to new places that weren’t taken. Silicon Scally adds a harder edged bass underneath the composition to increase the intensity of the vibe.
“Homage” continues the themes of influences across the whole “Field Lines” album with an homage to Kraftwerk, notably with ideas from “Home Computer” and “Computerworld.” But once again, the sounds of Detroit and Silicon Scally get down to influence this foundation in a really fresh way.
“Submerged” teases with throwing attention to UR and the Submerge label, and in some cases, you can hear this, but overall this track’s more removed from the influences as a chilled morning track. A track that for some might get overlooked on this “Field Lines” album, but for sheer simplicity and vibe, it might arguably be the best track on the release. With a lot of utility in deep DJ sets, “Submerged” features an intimate window into the soul of the artist.
“Static Fire” imparts the theme of the album and teases with the concept of familiarity, calling on some Detroit styles but also embodying the quintessential sounds of Silicon Scally, such as the intense push-pull in the drum programming.
“Yield” is a track where you can’t put your finger on this sound quite well enough but have this sneaking feeling of waking deja vu. “Is this Tomita? Is this Kraftwerk? Wait, is that line from OMD? Or is this sweeping saw wave just indicative of electro or is it Gary Numan?” You get lost in the mix trying to navigate these styles and in the process, suddenly realize the ideas are all working in concert to create a stunning electro track.
Last up, “Altered Domain” really pulls on the Kraftwerk “Pocket Calculator“ theme but with a distorted feel. Carl Finlow calls on himself again to present ‘Silicon Scally’ in a stylistic sense. The big surprise in the sound design here is the talking bass at 3:06 which almost sounds like it’s run through a formant. The artist hardly ever uses vocoder in his work, which when it comes to finding your ear, one might pick up on an articulated bass reminiscent of a vocoder, and it’s really a trip. Especially when that bass is actively shaking the walls and your internal organs, “Altered Domain” is just super funky and superb.
The “Field Lines” album is an outstanding work of one of the great minds in electro. Silicon Scally is playing here, presumably seeking amusement in fulfilling a quest to get closer to his influences while also twisting those influences into his own interpretations. Yet also these rebuilt interpretations provide a background for which Finlow can provide a hypothetical scenario where he can jam with his influences creatively. Silicon Scally provides just enough vagueness to the influences so that at once, the music is accessible and familiar, but you cannot exactly tell where. For those who do not have such an extensive background in electro, or even electronic music, all these references and classic musical tropes are completely lost on the newcomer. But still, they come across as original and contemporary themes in electro and undoubtedly provide enrichment once the newcomer dives deeper into the aesthetics and history of the music.
-Sean Ocean
Check out Dirty Epic music recommendations here.
Listen to our podcasts here.
Find out more about our events here.
