Nylon Rhythm Machine Chimera EP

[Catskills; 2004]

Styles: downtempo breakbeat, electronica
Others: Lemon Jelly, Sia, Nightmares On Wax, Quantic, Zero 7


Nylon Rhythm Machine, basically the work of Tim Gomersall, is another in a string of classic Catskills releases. Sooner or later they are gonna blow your mind; so if you want to soften the blow, here's a relatively inoffensive EP that shouldn't tax you too much. While all four tracks capture the light-hearted, broadly influenced Catskills sound, there is a ton of originality in each. Chimera starts off with "Stairway To Mars," powered by Tom's high strumming acoustic riffs over solid ambient breakbeat electronics recalling the folktronica of Dario Gand's "Voices" from The Beach soundtrack, before heading to the contradictory downtempo of "Agent Orange," which balances out the track's air of café/restaurant sweetness with graphic and pointed samples from spoken word and punk legend Jello Biafra. The symmetry of the EP is completed by "Venom"s dark breakbeat with a strong piano/synth presence and "The Holy Mountain," a more country influenced, guitar-based track centered around a lengthy sample of some Spanish guy tripping out hardcore. Gomersall shows a lot of range and promise on this teaser. I really dig the scratching when that comes up as well. That kicks everything up a notch or two. It just sucks that we'll have to wait until early 2005 for the full-length Fanta Vista to drop. Oh wait, that's soon.

1. Stairway To Mars
2. Agent Orange
3. Venom
4. The Holy Mountain