The latest offering by Gimmik and Toytronic is a full-length album entitled “Back to Basics”. The album has two sides (!), musically as well as physically the first side is beats-oriented and contains a fair amount of production trickery and assorted cut-ups. The second side focuses on atmosphere and soundscapes. One could say that one gets the better of two worlds and the album’s title is quite descriptive at that. The vinyl edition contains 11 tracks of quality electronic music, covering a wide area and all carrying Gimmik’s insignia and further cements Toytronic’s reputation. The straight forward beats in “Let’s Play Cricket” opens the album. As many of his peers have done as of late, the use and incorporation of acoustic instruments is noticeable on this album for example in “Un Jour”, “Le Ciel” and why not “From a-5310 to tw2 7q7”. The track “Booga” is fast-paced, based on break beats cut to bits as well as distorted vocal samples, as a lonely melody simmers in the background. “From a-5310 to tw2 7q7” acts as short outro and brings back the calm.As was previously mentioned the second side features mellower and more atmospheric music. First up is “L’appel des Cors” which is beatless and features fragile melodies and it’s quite beautiful. “Square two” is reminiscent of Proem’s line of thought with crunchy beats and mechanical sounds fused with amplitude of atmosphere. “Syntax” takes the tempo down again and features feather light beats alongside melody and a hint of bass. “7th of May” continues the ambient touch and “Back to Basics” increases the tempo and the aptly programmed drum machines do indeed remind you of those long gone days, a piece of nostalgia, right there and a fitting conclusion to the album. “Back to Basics” is not a revolutionary piece of plastic, however it is still a high-quality one and that’s about what you would expect from Gimmik and Toytronic. Get it now or leave it forever (supposedly all releases from toy1 to toy11 except toy05cd are already officially deleted) because, toy16 it will not last…
electronic desert ≡ revisited + extended