Live

Recorded during a performance in Philadelphia, Simian Mobile Disco's Live is a no-edits, no-overdubs document of the band's live show in 2012, which splits the difference sound-wise between their 2012 studio album Unpatterns (insular, future-retro music with obvious Krautrock and Kraftwerk influences) and their 2010 collection of digi-singles Delicacies (driving, crafted techno, most of it minimal). The set is done in one go where every song segues into the next, but this isn't a DJ set that just gains speed; it's a concert-minded sequence that ebbs and flows, sometimes joining outros and intros in a noodling, spinning style that would be endorsed by the Grateful Dead. Audience noise is mixed in ever so slightly, only becoming obvious when the beat drops, and the room ambience is captured perfectly with some echo and reflection giving away the fact that this one wasn't cut in the studio. All these pieces come together for a fantastic, album-length listen that harks back to the time of Orbs, System 7s, and "Blue Room Sets" but the techno underneath is more tasteful and refined than the '90s strain, making perfect sense that this is the first Simian Mobile Disco release to be distributed by Kompakt. In the end, it's still just a live album, but this sideline release is a must for fans, recommended for the casual techno head, and worth checking if a pumping, hypnotic, and otherworldly journey sounds attractive.