Icarus

Progressive English duo Icarus live up to their name in a sarcastic way. If you come from a background of more traditional electronica — from drum & bass to techno to IDM — you’re not going to be able to categorise them. The project veers dangerously close to the community of volatile musicianship embodied in the "avant-garde,” so much so that it risks losing a good deal of its audience in the name of going too far. On Sylt, though, reaching beyond the plot is the point — imagine Pauline Oliveros getting remixed by Squarepusher. This is the closest electronic production can get to being improvisational without becoming free form and purely improvisational. The hardcore beat-fiend will say they can’t tell where it’s going, while the avant-garde crate digger will wonder where it came from. Neither will claim it’s gone too far.