Buy Now
| Buy on |
|
- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
-
Dec 13, 2010It's coarse, awkward and at times lacks air; but the stubborn nature of Splazsh's development leaves you parched for more.
-
Q MagazineHis second album Splazsh serves up tense techno without a hint of human warmth. [Jul 2010, p.140]
-
Cunningham is skilled in sustaining uncomfortable moments right up to a breaking point but he's also brilliant at making this self-contained, insular music sound sleek, modern and somehow appetising.
-
Putting to work every kind of noise you could think of--dub echoes, laser squiggles, slurring sludge, fractured voices, bass rumbles, innocent chirps, and so on--Splazsh is a feast for the ears.
-
Unfortunately, the greatest asset to Splazsh also feels like its greatest Achilles heel. The territory this album spans is substantial, but almost impossible to get into without focused, repeated listening.
-
There's a range of hooks and ideas at play in Splazsh that few others have approached, much less made coherent.
-
After some time and patience with Actress's Splazsh, I still can't say that it lives up to the hype, but I am glad that people are talking about Cunningham. He's exactly the kind of enigma we need and at least worth some time to try to figure out.
-
Beneath the stray bits and hiss, Splazsh's stoned dance grooves and stumbling, slo-mo electro--an odd mixture of Moodymann, Burial, and Boards of Canada--pull you into a world as immersive as the title promises.
-
Splazsh evokes mood on a larger scale than Hazyville, increasing possibilities by stepping up production technique and stylistic variety, but it continues to focus on music's effect on the mind by allowing technique to undermine and contradict itself.
-
UncutToo often Cunningham fails to develop his tracks, which start thrillingly only to fizzle out. [Jul 2010, p.101]
-
Regardless of how the totality of Splazsh sounds to you--whether it's five tracks and 15 minutes too long, or a perfect hour-or-so long piece of programmed paradise, there's a lot to respect about Actress' confidence as a producer.