Pub - Process The Wise (2024)

Process the Wise is the spiritual sequel to Do You Regret Pantomime? we never realised we needed. Complete with Pubs signature slippery, almost invisible rhythms. Of course there are links back to artists predecessors and peers (its hard not to listen to this material without thinking of the earliest AFX 12s and Boards of Canadas Twoism/Hi Scores), but Pub set himself apart by not only following the established melodic through-line, but braiding his CRT-flickerd Open University melodies with sweltering Chain Reaction dub touches. These elements bubble to the surface on Resist the Escalator, fighting through misty synths and fluttering, trance spirals until a squelchy acid bassline and undulating rhythm are thrust into the spotlight and on the cavernous Hearts Conduct that plays like an Analord off-cut resprayed with balearic lacquer. Elsewhere, its far more recumbent: The Water in Magic is an early highlight, sparking its pitch-wonked toytown melodies with a brittle downtempo thump, and Humble Be dispenses with the beats altogether, dousing hypnotic plucked synth phrases in factory-strength reverb. If youre missing the days when whimsical technicolor themes rather than greyscale bleeps set the pace for electronic music, Process the Wise is a sip of the good stuff.