I can’t say that Blevin Blectum’s “Emblem Album” made much of an impression on me the first time that I heard it but I was listening to it on speakers and this is an album that has clearly been mixed solely to sound good on headphones. Time therefore to put on the cans.
A solidly synthetic creation, this album has no life outside of its intended environment even though it, to a limited extent, draws inspiration from both the dance floor and hardcore industrial ambient electronica. It is fair, therefore, to say that you have to be in the mood for this kind of music as its inherent coldness does not readily engage the emotions. The robotic rhythms, however, do provide a unsettling hypnotic effect that suggests that Blevin Blectum are much more than laptop layabouts bored with a lonely bedroom existence.
As you listen to this album, it develops a presence that brings with it an unnerving feeling about your surroundings especially if darkness has fallen with songs like “Deathrattlesnake” and “Harpsifloored”, in particular, sounding like they are 8 bit renditions of classical music forced upon you by a malevolent computer hell-bent on turning you into a slave.
If you like this kind of thing then you will already have the headphones necessary to enjoy this album. Plug yourself in and be pursued by it.