“Yes, I am in a coffin. Well, not necessarily a coffin, but I am definitely not alive.” Yves Tumor’s Serpent Music starts off in a surprisingly meditative mode, totally NOT what you’d expect given the visceral cover art and the sensational implications of a name like Yves Tumor, for Serpent Music was our first exposure to the work of Sean Bowie, formerly an associate of Mykki Blanco operating under a number of different aliases and now signed to the biggest electronic music imprint in the world. But dig a little deeper and there’s more lurking beneath the dusty soul claps and post-Dean Blunt indie guitar loops, from sinogrime meditation “Role In Creation” to the street-level bashment of “Broke In,” the cultish “Serpent” pt. 1 & 2 and sound art stylings of “Spirit In Prison” and “Perdition.” “I want it to be like a journey, like you’ve just walked with me through some dystopian place.” Bowie’s the titular serpent slithering through soul-chop classicism and neo-apocalyptic post-rave wreckage like a kid in a candy store getting his hands on a sampler for the first time. But the brilliance of Serpent Music lies in that murky area where the samples end and Bowie’s own voice begins. Black vinyl pressing with full color printed insert released by PAN, recommended.

• black vinyl pressing
• full color printed insert
• digital download included
• music label: PAN 2016

reviewed by tom violence 11/2018