Altered Zones

By Arturo Darvishire

Her Tears Taste Like Pears, the new EP from Austrian electronic musician Oliver Thomas Johnson's Dorian Concept project, is a pleasing journey through the kind of heavily melodic and synthesized music that people once called "IDM." Emerging out of a newer electronic scene in Vienna surrounding parties like Elektrofachadel, Dorian Concept was swooped up by London's Ninja Tune label in the rush to sign five-letter-abbreviated, funky and/or jazzy music with a heavily retro synth feel (see also: FlyLo, HudMo). But those comparisons, while not totally off the mark, are a little unfair to Dorian Concept's twisting melodicism and unbombastic left-field trip.

The EP's title track, "Her Tears Taste Like Pears," overlays a sped-up, dubstep/garage beat with a multitude of synth sounds-- comfortingly familiar, but tweaked just enough to have their own character. The result is an electronic world of contrapuntal synthesis, friendly and engaging. Other tracks have a more improvisatory, late-night-at-the-moon-unit feel, bringing to mind some kind of mid-20th century cocktail lounge transplanted into the not-so-distant future, with synthesizers standing in for piano. In some ways, this music is what the Mexican lounge music pioneer Esquivel! was going for with the original Space Age Bachelor Pad Music. At the time, however, our beloved species had yet to invent "funk" (rock 'n' roll was barely getting of the ground at the time; give the man a break), making this update to that idea a very welcome one.

Dorian Concept: Her Tears Taste Like Pears by alteredzones

Her Tears Taste Like Pears is available now and streaming above courtesy of Ninja Tune