Sound Colour Vibration (Music | Art | Film | Technology | Science | Culture)

Los Angeles is truly an epicenter of creation in the electronic experimental world. One producers work that I am loving more so than a lot of other material in the region is what Venice, CA native and LA resident Elusive has been bringing to the table. Lush organic harmony, evanescent rhythms and a symbiotic relationship into the analog and electronic worlds, I feel like this is one of the few producers who doesn’t lean towards either hip hop or electronica but walks the line between the two with glowing and transient results. Elusive is independently releasing a ton of materials this year with five records and a mixtape already released in this illustrious in 2012. The album we are covering at SCV comes from his April release Illumination Knock.

Seven tracks deep, Illumination Knock is an EP that expands on the smooth, airy and fat sounds that are a vehicle of expression from artists like Clark, Sweatson Klank (Take), DJ Nobody and so many others. Elusive adds some of the nicest layers on top of disjointed 80′s synth sounds, soulful keys, syncopated drums and a search for the new, allowing the album to take on different energy than most of the beat world and to never become stagnant in the process. The smooth and fat funk sounds of the album are pushed into the underground with a little grit to match, moving the record from breezy, summer music to headphones music in the matter of minutes. The track “Heaven” touches on that modern funk I just mentioned with deeply pronounced electric bass. The percussion is syncopated, running around the mix in ways that go far beyond the normal 4/4 patterns that most producers use.

When the album begins though, the smooth, glimmering and crimson state becomes fully realized in seconds. It sounds as if Teebs was featured on the track with the beautiful aura that is created from beginning to end. The vocals that are added make the song euphoric and spiritual and the track is my favorite of the EP Illumination Knock. The tropical is given light when the synth becomes pronounces in full and the mixture of sound that you can expect to hear from Elusive on the rest of the record is already into areas most can’t conceptualize. The beginning track “Ass”sistance” is electronic soul music and is a perfect way to start this diversified collection of sounds.

The song “Close Your Eyes” sounds like an MF Doom track with the way the vocal samples are cut into the intro and how soulful the beat is. The percussion is created off these vocals samples cuts in a way that I rarely hear and it sounds like a Busta Rhymes vocal sample is used for a second. The album as a whole has all of these little samples that hit so well and “Close Your Eyes” is one of the most bizarre rides into that area. The last piece “Pure Imagination” is another modern funk and slow burning track with some raw drum work and more of that classy synth that you rarely hear in electronica. The bass pushes on the low end, creating a vaccum that caps off the entire album with a heavy body moving ending.

Illumination Knock by Elusive is an incredible record and one that I am going back to weekly after getting it in April. Elusive is one of those producers whose music is as real as it gets and is someone who I can’t believe isn’t a house hold name already.

-Erik Otis

Order this record here: http://elusive.bandcamp.com/album/illumination-knock