- Soma Records unleash the talents of young Alex Smoke who hails from Glasgow in the heart of Scotland’s electronic scene. His album, Incommunicado, has received some very good reactions and for very good reason as it is a fantastic and uniquely diverse album.
6am is a fantastic early highlight, with smooth cluttered beats building towards some melodic latin riffs culminating in an emotion piece to begin the album. Lost In Sound is another great track using quirky twisted acid riffs and some crisp drums. Coda & Clang is a pretty downbeat production, oozing in emotional string patterns and subtle bleeps. Don’t See the Point is perhaps Alex’s biggest hit on the album, and for good reason as he delivers a cracking piece of emotive tech house.
Chica Wappa turns the heat up with a nice groove electro piece driven by some solid beats and a nice array of baselines. Brian’s Lung is perhaps the quirkiest of the lot, with thick synths stabs creating twisted melodies all held together by a nice solid baselines and chunky beats. Passing Through is another fantastic production using some great emotive elements and delightful effects and melodies, and the goodness continues with the final track Recess which flows with a series of cluttered beats and smooth synth lines.
This is a great album to be perfectly honest. It is great to see upcoming talent like Alex Smoke get the full and proper treatment by a label, giving him the opportunity to release a full artist album. Alex has repaid the favour by unleashing an album full of some really deep tracks that thankfully have great variety and emotive strength. I highly recommend you give this album some time.