If not for Daniel Miller most of the bands you grew up on wouldn't exist. Founder of Mute Records, and participant in the early days of synth-pop via The Normal ("Warm Leatherette") and other acts, Miller's talents and vision birthed a genre, styles that continue to this day, and a general approach to electronic music that's changed both how we approach technology (and its role in the arts) as well as popular culture itself. So there's some kind of significance in the return of Miller and a new release with his name on it.
Electronic Music Improvisations Vol. 1 by Daniel Miller and Gareth Jones, out on Friday via Mute, features eight tracks and a wealth of ideas generated from the simplest of structures. The cuts here start simply and progress outwards, with each fairly distinct from the next, despite an overall uniformity of concept here. "1.1 - 7.5.19" pulses and burns as it progresses, while "1.2 - 30.5.19" works its way forward on a proto-beat, sampled from somewhere beyond the norm. The powerful "1.4 - 18.6.19" conjures up a sense of menace, a looming nothingness right outside the pops and chirps around the outside of the main sound here, while closer "1.8 - 2.3.19" serves up a dancing percolating sample, set against a stark background.
These are experiments, sure, but there's a weird and earned cohesion to the whole project that sort of surprised me. Daniel Miller and Gareth Jones make this more resonant than the thing might sound on paper, with the entire record sort of gliding past a listener and revealing simple pleasures, and gently corrosive attacks on our notions of synth-rock.
Electronic Music Improvisations Vol. 1 by Daniel Miller and Gareth Jones is out on Friday via Mute.
[Photo: Diane Zillmer and Gareth Jones]