Gui Boratto - Chromophobia - (Kompakt)

This blog is only taking shape at the moment so I feel no harm can be done by reviewing albums that were released prior to our conception. In particular I have no qualms reviewing this gem as I only listened to it in full for the first time ever yesterday, and my word was I astounded.

Boratto first came to attention in 2005 with Arquipelago, a glorious roaming electronica effort that had that end-of-a-house-party-as-we-all-sit-around-and-tell-each-other-how-much-we-love-each-other kind of vibe. A truly beautiful piece of production, Chromophobia is his first full length album as far as I can make out. If the intention of the name is to suggest that the array of colours should prepare us for the impending trip across a wide musical spectrum, then it is ingenious. If it is called that because the colours on the front look pretty, then I read into these things far too much.

Not to worry. Scene is the perfect intro track, leaving us confused and baying for more. Its opening wavy soundscape is followed by a dark overtone which sets the "scene"* for the album as a whole. What follows is far from the Boratto introduced to us by Arquipelago. Mr. Decay, Terminal and Gate 7 is a trio that would leave any nightclub in absolute rapture. Gate 7 is a powerful track, the climax of which, preceded by a minute of Doppelwhipper-esque teasing, has all the qualities any DJ would want in striving for that perfect moment when hands are in the air, sweat, tears and roars fill the room and life is as beautiful as it can get.

After this the journey changes course slightly, with Shebang a clicky, angry offering that would sit more comfortably in a Magda or Villalobos set than here. This is certainly not the Boratto I was expecting but I fucking love it. Chromophobia, The Blessing, Mala Strana, Acrostico, and Xilo bring the pace right back down to a more familiar level, as Boratto allows the album to cruise along with some very pretty efforts indeed. This was how I remembered him. The gorgeous Beautiful Life follows, a firm favourite and likely floor filler. It is possibly a little trancey, but after the trip we have been on nothing seems unexpected. Hera continues the slightly trancey vibe, but features some fantastically dark sounds. The Verdict is the album's final tune, and a fitting one at that. It takes things right down below an Arquipelago-type pace as the colour and variety of the album race in front of my eyes. The verdict: An absolute stormer of an album, showing a range of styles that I certianly was not aware of. The spanning of the PPS** is hugely impressive.

* Wow me and Gui are so on the same level here

** Pretty-Philthy Spectrum


The Verdict - mp3