***** The Advent – Life Cycles (Cultivated Electronics CE035 – 2020)

For The Advent, electro is not a virgin territory although the act now solely run by Cisco Ferreira has been always regarded as a major player of the techno league. Having recently listened to the 1997 album “New Beginnings”, I found “Funkage” and a few more electro tracks there and “Life Cycles” brings back memories of earlier works from the legendary group. In recent times, The Advent has made electro tracks and remixes with his son Zein, for Monotone, Earwiggle and EPM Music with a stunning impact.

In a way, a new electro album, out on the acclaimed UK label Cultivated Electronics, is something we have heard coming, even when the material stems from the artist’s 90’s archives. It’s not a purist exercise when the fumes of techno cave can be sensed in “Music Is Life”and “Electrical Sounds”, and the entire LP is not fully detached from The Advent’s muscular basics. The breaks are broad and powerful, when visiting a nasty shrink doctor on steroids (“Vast”) or performing badass jit in a ghetto (“L.U.”).

Of a really ‘catchy’ kind is my favourite “Boogie Electro”, a wicked cousin of Dopplereffekt’s “Speak & Spell” with bass sequences I can’t get out of my head. Abstract-ish mechanics of “Live@Motor 1998” are followed by a meet-up of tractor beats and flourishing pads (“Stasis V2”) and for the end, “Panda” is concerned about acid leaks from an arcade console.

According to Cisco, “Life Cycles” is an album to explore his older past and connect with the future, the year 2020 and this new electro generation. This is what it’s all about.

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