Push Pull, the

General | Feb 2005

Reviews

Captain Dee
Reviewed 2005-02-27
David Last storms KZSU again, this time with a full-length studio album. You might remember David Last from his Live at Halycon EP that hit A-File last Spring. Regardless, you’re due for quite the treat.

Imagine super spacey trip-hop, a la Luke Vibert, with intricate glitch-hop, dub, and even reggae influences. Last’s sound pallet resonates an ineffably “exotic” vibe that I can’t quite explain. The whole album brings to mind the image of a mysterious ceremony/party in the secret heart of a forest. As I said in my last review, it’s amazing how “organic” his music is. His dark, swirling compositions and bounce-y, catchy beats grow and evolve on the fly. That live EP I mentioned above is a bit stronger, but this release is still fuckin’ cool. Check it!

Favorite Tracks: 2, 8

- Captain Dee, Feb. 2005

*1. Stringed instrumentation over hollow beat and critter-ish rumbling. (1:54)
**2. Haunting ambience washes in and out under exotic instrumentation and an incredibly tight, bounce-y beat. Ghosts having a party, maybe? Dope! (4:21)
3. “Dirty” beat, underwater feel. Tweaked samples, cool chiming melody reminds me of island-style steel drums. (4:20)
4. Murky vibe. Hand-claps, rumbling, more steel drums. (4:22)
5. Goofy sounds, plucks, buzzy drums. Dance in a firelit cave? (3:08)
*6. Cut-up mix of steel drums, whispering melodies, electronic pulses, and all sorts of other ambience. Party in the alien equivalent of Jamaica?
*7. Reggae feel, electronic buzzing. Tight layering of downtempo beats! (4:47)
**8. The album’s standout track. Infectious beat, hand-claps, intricate layers of bloopy sound effects and skittering ambience. Enchanting “European” accordion melody. Towards the end, full tragic strings over cooing backdrop. Ends with the famous “Hey kid, I’m a computer!” sample. Stunning! (8:01)
9. Echoy voice, robotic critters happily walking around, creepy laughing. Later, thick drone. Soft clicking in the background. (4:30)
*10. Catchy bass and beat. Semi-sexual “mmm” samples. Upbeat, with super trippy clang-y dissonance. Later, wistful accordion. Cool! (4:31)
11. Dark, slo-mo drones, downtempo beat, muddled atmosphere. Like a drugged-out mashup of the eleven previous tracks. (2:49)
12. Tweaked, super dark tribal-ish chanting that freaks me out. Glitchy beat, beeps and bloops, other creepy vocal/laughing samples. (4:16)

Recent airplay

The Push Pull, Posca Kid, Springset
Subcutaneous PhycomycosisDec 05, 2006
Makeout Stakeout
Posca Kid, The Push Pull
Black and BlueApr 18, 2005
The Push Pull
Black and BlueApr 11, 2005
Posca Kid, The Push Pull
Eat Your BeatsApr 06, 2005
Makeout Stakeout

Charting

2005-02-27 — 2005-05-01 Electronic, Classical/Experimental
Week EndingAirplays
Apr 24 2
Apr 17 1
Apr 10 1
Apr 3 1
Mar 27 1
Mar 20 1
Mar 13 4
Mar 6 5

Track listing

1. Besitos
2. The Push Pull
3. Secret Society
4. Badlands
5. Springset
6. Parataxic
7. Cat-Silver
8. Posca Kid
9. Vestigal Limbs
10. Makeout Stakeout
11. Badlands Goodlands
12. Chiki