Minneapolis native, producer Chris Farstad of the electronic group Food Pyramid recently took some alone time to cultivate his solo side project under the moniker of 555, not surprisingly a new member of the Moon Glyph family. A few days ago, he released his third cassette under the nom de plume, Nine Gates, a nine-track space odyssey through electronic psychedelia that's equal parts introspective oddity and dance-minded electropop. Opening track “Uklululayla” sets the tone, ebbing in and out with synthetic shimmer and acidic disco beats. The gawky start-stop, anti-fluidity of the track contrasts nicely with what follows it; a song titled “Som Hassel,” which smooths out its predecessor's unevenness (intentional though it must be) with a less amorphous meeting of ambience and beats, wherein Farstad might as well be stitching subatomic particles under a microscope. The concluding track on the cassette, “Killing Joke”, sums up the journey on a note of euphoric pop. Wobbly KORG melodies spiral together over a wispy New Wave rhythm, as if to herald the dawning of a twilight age.
The Nine Gates cassette is out now on Moon Glyph and digitally on Bandcamp. Stream it below.
