Codebase, Stuck In Time, Force Inc.

Seattle producer Codebase (Tom Butcher) has inaccurately titled his latest effort, which is far too fluid to be stuck. Instead, the work comes across after repeat listens as an homage to techno’s past (with heavy leanings on Detroit), eschewing the cold precision of contemporary minimal productions for the warmth of analog, evoking a sense of solitude and emotional detachment while updating the sonic templates of his influences. Thus, despite its obvious debt to the past, Stuck in Time finds itself equally rooted in the present and the future.

The eight-track album gets its legs with the second track, “Throwback.” Swanky and sophisticated, this feels like the soundtrack to a retrofuturistic soirée, complete with molded plastic furniture and monochromatic bodysuits, a union between the Playboy Club and 2001: A Space Odyssey. The title track continues in the same vein, but feels farther along in the music timeline, evoking a more eighties sensibility as a more introspective peer of “Axel F” from the Beverly Hills Cop soundtrack. The album takes a melancholy turn with “Leave,” which features plenty of room for the song’s elements to breathe, with synths that sound underwater, and squelches seemingly recorded in a cave.

Stuck In Time is divided from there with a continued mix of moods, with “What Do You Want” returning to the lounge and “Can’t Stop” making for the album’s most upbeat number. The album closes with “Denouement,” a slow, moody testament to the fact that even in the parties of our robotic future, the booze runs out, the guests leave, and we close out the evening tired, out of sorts, and alone.

Stuck In Time can already be found in local record stores. It is limited to 2700 copies.

Samples:
Throwback
What Do You Want
Other Codebase productions can be sampled on his Myspace.