Clean Pit & Lid

Given how Clifford was clearly progressing towards an extreme style of stripped-down techno the longer than Seefeel went on -the influence of friend/remixer Aphex Twin being often quite apparent — it's no surprise that in his Disjecta guise he continued pursuing that particular goal. Clean Pit and Lid on the one hand is arguably derivative and all too apparently a Warp Records release, favoring the combination of clean atmospheres and sudden rough beats and sonics that Aphex himself very much made his own. Opening track "Gammi" sounds like something straight off of the On EP or I Care Because You Do, if not something from, say, an early Mu-ziq album as well, and that's just one example of many. There's the shuddering, industrial strength rhythm of the quite appropriately titled "Kracht," for instance, or the deep semi-chimes, easily imagined as being processed from other sources, that begin "Sudden Squeeze." At the same time, Clean Pit is an enjoyable listen for what it is, with plenty of moments where the sense of shoegaze-into-minimalism Seefeel made its own carries through the new, explicitly all electronic setup Clifford favors. "Are You an Echo?" is quietly lovely, its soft, simple melody and upfront but still barely there rhythm creating a perfectly inspired atmosphere, added to by the additional synth notes that appear some minutes into the track. The playful "Cheekchops" is another good example, at once winsome and sprightly and just mood-setting enough, a bit like an electronic steel drum band from the year 2150 playing a touch unobtrusively at a party. The best way to approach it is to simply play and enjoy — it's not like Radiohead's just-as-obvious cloning of the Rephlex and Warp catalogs for Kid A is any less of a treat either, after all.