***** Heiki – Komplexobox (Paper+Sound – 2022)

With EOY lists, it’s good to wait until the last minute. Shortly before New Year’s Eve, Heiki Sillaste’s vigorous four-tracker crowned the year in electro. The title track breaks the wicked-o-meter when rough 808 beats and vocoder narration are clashing with a wall of buzzing acid, the final product ready for a bout with Lonny & Melvin. The acid theme with variations continues in “(Keep The) Bottom Down”, by sound complex and crowded like NYC metro at rush hour. Rolling electro hop “Boxdin” recalls Khan’s masterpieces in the field and supervises the floor with energy-laden flow, adapting atmospheric undercurrents closer to the end. Vocoder returns in sinister electro funk “Oktobox”, driven by valiant 808 (provided by Solvent) and a bass line smelling like “Los Niños Del Parque”.

Sillaste is known for diverse skills in electronics, having founded the industrial group Digital Poodle and being part of acid (Hozerz) and synth wave (Les Fontaines) groups, to name a few. Now with “Komplexobox”, the artist from Toronto reveals his electro talent. Sillaste has also recorded several dub albums under own name and in my view his Dub Town” (2021) was a good match to OM Unit’s much-acclaimed “Acid Dub Studies“.

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