Odyssey/Sonne

Following his second full-length album under the name Rival Consoles, British electro/IDM producer Ryan Lee West took the project in a more minimalist, organic direction with the release of his EPs Odyssey (2013) and Sonne (2014), the latter of which featured West's own acoustic guitar playing and drumming. Compiled onto a 2015 CD release (yet strangely omitting the Peter Broderick-featuring "Soul" from Odyssey), the EPs moved away from the more bombastic Ed Banger-inspired electro-house of 2011's Kid Velo and toward a more measured, contemplative, minimal techno sound. Similar to Jon Hopkins' Immunity, the disc balances carefully detailed tech-house tracks with more experimental downtempo numbers. "3 Chords" and "Helios" are some of the disc's more danceable highlights, while the jittery "Philip" and bubbly "Rebecca" are two of the more wondrous experimental pieces. The speedy, shimmering "Recovery" ends the disc on an exciting note. ~ Paul Simpson