RUFUS - Selector

RUFUS
Selector
2018
Spotify

So I have to correct the GooglePlay Music streaming service all the time. They will constantly mix up artists with other artists, which on the surface may be an innocent mistake, but what if they are paying the wrong person for streams? This should be priority one, but it rarely is. This album was actually filed under Rufus Du Sol, and while they do share some similarities with this RUFUS, their music is rather different. Both work in the electronic space, but that is about where the similarities stop. This album really focuses on the heavier side of electronic music. You'll hear some dubstep, some acid house and some hardcore, but they are all used almost sparingly giving the album this heavy electronic feel but with a lighter touch. Words are used occasionally but only as punctuation for something else. You are simply surrounded by electronic sounds from the moment the album begins, and they are relentless until it ends. "Five Shade's of Light" has this aggressive hardcore 8-bit beat that is only interrupted by a distant heavily effected voice saying the song's title. It's off putting in it's repetition, but also the bones of the song have something kind of interesting. Rufus is relentless in putting diverse beats on the floor but the diversity is often overwhelming and hard to grasp.

"Brass and Naughty and Fast" is another example of a beat that begins super interesting but stays that way for almost the entire run time. The never changing nature of this record makes it difficult to listen all the way through. It's like each song could be half as long and be infidelity better. "Technotronic" feels like it finds this nice kind of psychedelic break, but then it just keeps going and going in this never ending loop. This is not really music for dancing, it's mroe music for spacing out, getting lost in production and finding a space where the beat becomes so known that you just kind of dissolve into nothing. It's a strange sensation, but you can't help but feel it when running through Selector. It's almost intentionally this repetitive daring you to dislike it and the problem is that you can. The album acts like it is undeniable, but doesn't sound like it is. Selector is both a tough listen, and a semi enjoyable one living on this weird edge between good and annoying. It's a strange place to land, but it's also a strange listen. 

5.0 out of 10