False LP A

When the first transmissions from the mysterious ambient dub techno project Topdown Dialectic were received back in 2013, it was perceived as something serious and po-faced. No track titles, no artwork, each runtime the same, like PVC piping all cut to precise measurement. The early cassette tapes were in clear cases, no writing to inform the listening. Same for a series of three LPs, each a different gradient between white and black paper. But a series of sonically similar 12”s (under monikers like Selfsame, Exterior, and Borgesian Term) suggested a wry humor might also be at work, with more flexibility – even playfulness – to be had in these productions. In a certain light, Topdown Dialectic is a funny name for a project.

A proper Topdown Dialectic full-length (now credited to producer/ sound artist Izaak Schlossman) keeps many of the same parameters of prior TD product intact, while letting in flashes of color that feel all the more iridescent. Just check the cover with its spurt of color. Across 16 untitled tracks, each precisely 5:00 in duration, Schlossman keeps the flame of Basic Channel-era dub techno burning bright. But his machines also work like a rock tumbler, sanding down the chunky tropes of dance music: bass, beats, melodic shards, and voices until their surfaces become smooth, slippery, unidentifiable. The real trick is that rather than it all sounding undifferentiated, each little element gleams with a newfound sense of wonder.