Flashbulb

If you've been following underground electronic music closely, you've probably at least heard his name. The Flashbulb, that is, Benn Jordan. He seems to cause controversy wherever he goes (Planet Mu forum, anyone?). I remember hearing the M3 album and thinking it was pretty good although I would imagine it might sound kind of stale now. The formula needed some work, but I had a feeling I would probably see his name pop up again. Low and behold, a couple albums and years later, wedged between some bills in the mailbox was a copy of "Red Extensions of Me". I figured since the 'bulb was off my radar screen for a while, I thought I might be in for an album of clicks-and-cuts and MaxMSP generative wankery.

To my surprise, he hadn't really changed much… or succumbed to current trends, shall I say. He has become a better producer, obviously, and his song-writing skills have been knocked up a few notches, but other than that, it's still the same old Flashbulb. The biggest argument I've heard towards him is that he unabashedly rips off Aphex Twin and Squarepusher. The similarities are there, and it does seem like the Flashbulb wears his influences on his sleeve, but this music is very much his own. Tracks like "Sensual Data", "Earthtone Morphine Battery", and Lucid Base I & II" really supports this and shows him moving forward as a musician and producer and seamlessly combining the many bases he has covered throughout his career ranging from and not limited to spastic jungle, hard breaks, melancholic "IDM" , and synth-heavy pop tracks.

This album once again finds Benn picking the guitar up to create some interesting guitar-based tracks that squeal and sometimes show an uncanny resemblance to some moments on Daft Punk's "Discovery", mainly the song "Voyager". Like the Tigerbeat6 collective, he doesn't take himself too seriously, one of my major qualms with this type of electronic music. Where Kid606 and his goons fail though, Flashbulb succeeds. The music is engaging and interesting along with not being too self-indulgent and not taking itself too serious. Also, it is quite eerie how much "If Trees Could Speak" sounds like Madonna's "Don't Tell Me".

One thing I really appreciate about his music is how natural it sounds. Nothing sounds forced or out of place. No sloppy rhythms (although he might want to ease back on the pitch shifting!) or the droning random melodies that are token in IDM. In fact, the melody progressions on this are some of the better ones I've heard in the past few months. He sounds like a classically trained musician instead of a knob-tweaker. From start to finish, "Red Extensions of Me" is a great album and would be a worthy addition to any ones catalog, especially to fans of earlier Warp, Rephlex, Planet Mu and older "IDM" before the genre became so bloated and grew to be more than just a niche in Jungle and DNB.

...but to be brutally honest, I think he can do better. Actually, its probably just me having such high hopes for him. I think eventually he will be one of the bigger players in electronic music ("IDM", specifically) and I can even see him moving on to Warp or Rephlex at some point. He's been working hard for about a decade and I don't really see him stopping anytime soon. I only see great things in the future for The Flashbulb.