Manuel Gonzales' second album is another excellent set of raw, unpolished techno and house tracks, ranging from summery funk jams to disjointed interstellar electro. The Detroit producer records all of his tracks at home using analog equipment, and it all has a rough, on-the-fly feel to it. This works to its advantage, as the songs sound live and spontaneous, flowing and shifting as his mood instructs. Several tracks are filled with warm and uplifting house grooves, such as the blissful opener, "You Inside Me," a midtempo thumper in the vein of
Moodymann or
Theo Parrish that isn't in a hurry to go anywhere. Tracks such as "K Art W Heel" and "She Finna Blow" are significantly trippier and more offbeat, but still seem positive and upbeat, if somewhat curious. The second half of the album progresses into darker, more abstract sounds, with the sporadic beats of "Hole" preceding the jumbled lo-fi house track "Your Never Home." "Cancel" plunges into shaky, distorted electro, and submerged house epic "Sift" seems lost and paranoid before a wash of soothing synth pads floods in. The album is exciting and inventive throughout, and further demonstrates why
MGUN is one of the most notable Detroit-based artists to emerge during the 2010s. ~ Paul Simpson