RecFrag + Tokee – Substitution (Album – Aliens Production)
Genre/Influences: IDM, Electro-Ambient, Experimental.
Format: Digital.
Background/Info: “Substitution” is a split album between Dmitriy Nikolaenko (RecFrag) and Anatoly Grinberg (Tokee). The connection between this Belarusian and Russian artists is friendship which for this work resulted in three songs created by each artist.
Content: Both artists are also connected by their passion and devotion for electronic music. They both are mixing and switching from IDM to Ambient to pure Experimental music. Subtle and dreamy passages are carried by rhythms which can become bombastic.
+ + + : Both artists deliver great passages but I’ve been more impressed by the sound intelligence of Tokee. Both debut cuts of this artist are mixing great ambient atmospheres together with rhythmic. It’s a subtle sound collage. RecFrag remains an interesting project which caught my attention by menacing bass lines and his mix of reverie and rhythm.
– – – : I’ve never been an addict of split releases and even if this work sounds pretty cool I would have preferred to hear a full length album from each project instead of this split release.
Conclusion: Friendship as basis for a creative process resulting in IDM.
Best songs: RecFrag: “Big Fish” + Tokee: “Detective Snow”, “Modularity”.
Rate: 7.
Artists: www.solanic.org/artists/recfrag / www.facebook.com/iamtokee
Label: www.label.aliens.sk / www.facebook.com/pages/Aliens-production-label/200028820052578
About RecFrag and Tokee
RecFrag is the IDM/electro-ambient project of Belarusian producer Dmitriy Nikolaenko. His earlier CD album “Recovered Fragments” was released via Aliens Production in 2017.
Tokee is the project of Russian producer Anatoly Grinberg. Under the name Tokee & Tapage he released the album “The Collider Circle” via Hymen Records in 2021.
“Substitution”, reviewed here, is the pair’s first joint release, issued via Aliens Production in 2023.
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