LP / CHARLATAN. Local Agent
LP / CHARLATAN. Local Agent
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Charlatan — Local Agent
VINYL LP + DIGITAL
Release August 2014
USA
Local Agent is the fourth LP by Charlatan, also known as Brad Rose, label head of Digitalis, and half of Safiyya. Local Agent is Charlatan's refined statement, an amalgam of espionage and techno science fiction with hints of abstract dub, finely mastered by John Tejada.
Local Agent is the culmination of several years of work by Brad Rose, who has been studying and stylizing a conceptual and abstract fusion between industrial and techno rhythm structures, with a sensitivity to narrative and description of futuristic landscapes (retro-futuristic/Lab style). While employing his usual set of tools (electronic synthesis, cyclical melodies, and techno/abstract rhythms), this time Brad Rose/Charlatan is also venturing into the more turbulent dub territories, accompanied by crushed and anonymous basslines, to create tracks loaded with kinetic content, pieces that move in the realm of science fiction and espionage thrillers, a sound rich in paranoia fit for a J.G. Ballard novel. Local Agent can be understood as a complete musical work; although there are eight separate tracks, and each has its own personality, the entire set creates a drama articulated by chapters, almost like a storyline. And this is also another success of Local Agent, the symmetrical conjunction between two axes that are often distant: post-apocalyptic cold whispers, dramatic industrial landscapes; and on the other hand, a variety of playful melodic sequences, which function as interludes or precedents for freer and more abstract parts that could be imagined almost as a complex and epic confrontation. Local Agent is, metaphorically speaking, the process of a machine-like entity, a halogen-illuminated golem, a schizoid double agent, and a society feverishly working during the last hours before the great collapse.
All songs produced by Brad Rose. Mastered by John Tejada. Photo by Cody Cobb. Art by Daniel Castrejón.
TRACKLIST / 42 min
01 Switchblades
02 Blur suit
03 Lonely city
04 Skulled
05 The cure
06 Double blind host
07 Antiprism
08 Mightmaring
UMOR REX is a window with a unique vision towards experimental music. It is a label worth discovering through the ear, both for electronic music lovers and for those curious to explore new forms of artistic expression.
Founded in 2006 in Mexico City, UMOR REX is an independent record label whose challenging and experimental catalog, in vinyl and cassette format, spans from ambient to electronic experimentation, dub, and avant-garde. They publish the work of artists constantly exploring new sound territories, such as Felicia Atkinson, Driftmachine, Rafael Anton Irisarri, Gudrun Gut, Siavash Amini, among many others.
