All Natural: Ojaco’s Forest EQ
Forest EQ is the second album the artist Ojaco has released this year, following a few month’s after a squiggly, intriguing collection released via Niphlex Recordings. There was an oddball charm to that (lost in my personal shuffle) set, Ojaco jumping from near 8-bit boogies to shuffling dance numbers, making for an unpredictable bit of bedroom electronic music. Forest EQ, though, marks a big jump in quality for the producer, less scatterbrained without sacrificing a feeling of experimentation that keeps the album on its toes. A vague natural theme runs through this album, and little natural touches add character to these songs — opener “A Forest Comes” allows samples of birds chirping to appear among the digital notes, adding a sense of reality to the proceedings. Not every song allows these real world glances to come through — see the hoppy “Curt Eyes Of Owl” for an example of pure computerized madness — but even when no samples enter the frame, Ojaco keeps things relatively smooth, aiming for well-constructed electronic compositions with enough twists to stand out. Get it here, or listen below.
