After a decade-plus toiling in the shadows, Travis Stewart finally struck gold in 2011—twice, no less. As one-half of Sepalcure, he and Praveen Sharma released a confident self-titled debut that refracted bass music in a soft, pink-hued light without losing any creative edge. Stewart’s crowning achievement in that year, however, was his Planet Mu LP as Machinedrum, Room(s). An embarrassment of riches that fused footwork’s 3D rhythmic patterns, bass’ double-time gait, and emotive vocal samples, Room(s) stands as one of the strongest electronic full-lengths of the decade so far. It was a true crossover album that discarded notions of innovation and originality in favor of delivering a rich, almost overwhelming listening experience.
Room(s) represented a creative ideal for Stewart. He spent the previous decade hopping from sound to sound—glitchy IDM, low-slung Dilla-influenced hip-hop instrumentals—while mostly staying anonymous. Room(s) caused many to sit up and take notice, though, and he seized the opportunity in typically canny fashion: production work for major-label casualty Azealia Banks, a slick EP of candy-coated techno for Glasgow label LuckyMe, and a load of one-off cuts and data-dump EPs that have kept the Machinedrum name a near-constant presence. Following a high-profile signing to Ninja Tune, Stewart put the distractions aside for a moment and returned last year with Room(s)’ proper follow-up, Vapor City, an album that found him smoothing out the terrain of its predecessor. The record didn’t pack the same thrilling punch of Room(s)’ finest moments, coming over more as a the sound of an artist sticking with the sound that gained him notice—which, in Stewart’s case, isn’t a bad thing.
On the outset, his new EP as Machinedrum, Fenris District, resembles a victory lap after Vapor City’s modest successes, but its content suggests that Stewart’s ear is wandering yet again—this time, towards the bounce-heavy motifs and that make up the increasingly jocular spin on trap popularized by artists such as TNGHT and Dillon Francis. The release contains three new cuts, two of which make make the shift clear: “On My Mind” opens with a high-frequency whine and clipped snares before sinking into dubby synth stabs and sensory-depriving bass frequencies, while “Neujack” samples an utterance of its title’s second syllable and subjects it to a series of pitch-warped filters, filling the resulting space with piled-up claps and, yes, more deep bass. Those coming to hear Stewart in his lane are rewarded early with the EP’s highlight, “Back Seat Ho”, which takes the ear-blasting sonics of its counterparts and throws in soft synth pads and pleasingly emotive textures in its back half. It’s the strongest representation of Stewart’s successful aesthetic since Vapor City’s evocative opener “Gunshotta”.
Fenris District is rounded out by two remixes: Adrian Sherwood and bass mainstay Pinch offer a take on Vapor City’s downcast first single “Eyesdontlie”, adding pitch-black vibes to the tune with broken piano lines and occasional ragga vocal samples. It’s an intriguing take, if not an especially engaging one. Glasgow wünderkind Rustie does them one better on his remix of “Back Seat Ho”. Rustie is exploring new territory yet again, attacking “Back Seat Ho”’s endlessly sampled vocal with nasty buzzsaw sounds before clearing the arena for city-leveling drums possessing a nihilistic brutality.
Contrasted with Glass Swords’ penchant for wild-eyed optimism, Rustie’s “Back Seat Ho” remix scans darker and represents a great artist trying (and succeeding) to chart his own path; his self-assured sense of originality presented here makes Stewart look inferior by comparison and presents a strange conundrum regarding where he takes the Machinedrum project next. After two albums of the same sound, it certainly wouldn’t hurt for Stewart to branch out, but that would risk losing the attention that he spent over 10 years trying to attain. Both history and the originals on Fenris District suggest that, for Stewart, trying something new doesn’t so much mean embracing originality as much as it does trying on other people’s clothes. Which leaves the Machinedrum project at a crossroads, and it’ll be interesting to see which path he takes going forward.
