Lamedd’s Permit Breaks All The Rules
By Deuce
Take a peek at the artwork for Lamedd’s most recent release, the Extended Player entitled Permit. If you’re like this reviewer, it tells you absolutely nothing about the contents.
Then, take a nice, long look at one of the promotional photos for the artist, which is included in this review for the sake of convenience. It’s no exaggeration to state the music on this offering is exactly what that image itself is. Unconventional. Shadowy. Indecipherable, yet with the strongest hint that Lamedd’s up to something, whatever that may be.
Much like the aforesaid photo, the music on this piece is non-linear. In fact, it’s predominantly curved, caroming and veering from one ear drum to another, then back out again. It starts and stops at will. It takes up space and disappears within heartbeats. And, again, there’s really no telling what exactly it’s doing.
In fact, for those who are prone to mind alteration, this project could be somewhat hazardous. It’s a brain-bender, a form of mind alteration itself, where there are no boundaries and sounds, especially the drums, have the deliberate tendency to mess with just about anyone in such a sensitive mind state.
“Mercy”, the leadoff number, is characterized by undulations of dubstep-like bass scattered throughout it, strange synths, violent panning, odd textures, and incongruous sounds. To the artist’s credit, there is a main riff (which doesn’t sound bad). But he never hooks up the drums behind it, and there’s nary a vocal anywhere on this collection to capitalize on such oeuvre.
“My Incisor” gets the nod for the world’s most creative (if not desultory) title. It features the artist flinging more dubstep-like punches of bass and, with a dirty, highly filtered kick, sounds just like a video game. In fact, it does so much so that anyone would have difficulty convincing yours truly that it isn’t.
The majority of the sounds seemingly stem from synths. However, both “In Bloom” and “Cut The Wire” are imbued with a healthy dosage of static, so that there’s no ruling out the presence of samples, as well. But there are scant melodies on this production, zero song structure, and boundless creativity—as much as one can summon and, for the counterpoint, as much as one can stand.
