Working Class

There's something suggestive about Daniel Meteo's album title, a potential unpacking of meaning, ranging from the nature of musical employment to the concept of "work" on the dancefloor to the idea of class and other dividing lines in the potential audience for electronic music in general. It's a good framing device for an album that cherrypicks across styles and years in the overall field — the opener "The Beat of the Heart" alone sounds like Kraftwerk or Moroder in one second, Derrick May or late Orbital in another, Seefeel or more than a few electrogaze types on Morr Records in yet another, crisp and squelchy in equal measures. If not quite fully distinct as his own approach it's actually achieving that state pretty closely at points throughout Working Class, with Meteo at once creating a good album for relaxed contemplation and a not-bad one for actual dancing, as well. Meteo's ear for recontextualizing often comes up with striking new fusions — the combination of mid-'90s Warp Records quirk and echo on the title track against the almost dublike basslines make for a thrilling moment, while the steel drum sounds on "Schön Feddich" add an unexpected gleam to the bass-heavy roil of the song, even if the results are more enjoyable or easygoing rather than gripping at other times. It's a fine full-length debut nonetheless, and promises even more for Meteo's future.