Rentip - "Daily Routines"

Artist: Rentip
Album: Daily Routines
Year: 2013
Label: Crime League
Genre: IDM, Industrial
Website: crimeleague.net













Basics:
Daily Routines is the debut album from Rentip. It is available as both a digital download and as a vinyl. That's pretty much all I knew about this guy going in. Oh, and the artwork is really gorgeous.

Stuff:
This is a neat album of contemporary IDM with a bit of an industrial/EBM influence. It reminded me of an artist we've had on our comps named Circle 6; the underlying foundation of IDM coupled with a darker tone and focus on heavy, nonlinear beats & glitches. The opening track "The Rules of Collision" set the pace for the record; it's got a groovy 4/4 kick reminiscent of EBM beneath layer upon layer of atypical percussion sequences, beepy synths, and pads. It can be hard to follow at times because there is so much going on and the composition is so dense. It's enjoyable though; it's packed with lots of nice, calmly atmospheric synth bits. The second track "Dodecahedron Strategy" is one of my favorites on the album. It's similar to the opener but with a heavier and more driving beat. It's also got that "sounds of a computer dreaming" vibe which I dig. "Perfectly Preserved" is a bit different and it actually reminds me of Geomatic - it's quite driving and has a bit of an ethnic/tribal feel to it. The rest of the album is some combination of the elements introduced up to this point. The final track is an atmospheric ambient piece with no beats which carries a creepy, the computer has turned against its creators vibe - the mutated vocal samples are especially unsettling. Overall he utilizes a fairly diverse sound palette and because he constantly introduces new things and modulations to the mix, the tracks continuously stay fresh.  In many of songs he does a good job of juxtaposing slower / more downtempo/ambient parts with the more active sections of the song. The mixing could be better, and the density of these tracks causes some of the elements to get lost within. My biggest complaint is the lack of space in the mix, and I think if he can integrate that into his mixes than he could definitely take some already good tunes to the next level.

Overall: 
Pretty cool debut which I enjoyed. It succeeds in standing out in the sea of generic "ableton idm" that permeates the internet. One to check out for people looking for "heavy" IDM that is constantly moving and shifting. Very interested to see where he goes next.