Thursday March 28th, 2024
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XULI- CFS EP

Another solid release from the hardworking producer shows a disregard for genres, resulting in a unique EP and a sound that can't be copied. Take a listen here...

Staff Writer

XULI- CFS EP

It is always with great pleasure that we check out XULI’s work, whether to review it, or just to hear what it sounds like to be a producer at the top of his game. XULI’s productions never ceases to catch us off guard, as we’re never quite sure or even able to pin-point him to a certain genre. And it is with this lack of restriction to a certain genre that he approaches every project of his. Lack of restriction, true cleverness and breaking norms seem to be the average day for XULI, who we imagine eating fool in front of his computer. XULI's latest offering came out a few days ago and is simply titled CFS; a four-track EP.

 

You know you’re hearing a good EP when you can’t even describe the tracks at hand. For an artist who has often, but not always, made tracks with a beat-based structure it's refreshing to hear XULI have a whack at obfuscation. The whole EP is a Lo-Fi, Experimental, Industrial, Noise-filled project, and that’s as close as we or anyone else can really get to what’s going on here. XULI’s harsh instrumental Techno tendencies are implied on every track but in a completely different context here. The tracks often stop halfway through a drop, with heavy growls or a synth line introduced, in a sublime haphazard fashion only to get back to industrial rhythms and corrosive synth texts.

There’s an undisputed sense of artistry when hearing a XULI track. It doesn’t try to make you like it or feel affection towards it; if anything it’s a big fuck you, in the nicest way by the nicest person, to other artists in Egypt.  A1 is a good intro tune. Yes, it sounds harsh and industrial, but unlike the closing track, B2, which ends in a growling sea of distortion, it still has some structure that you can hang on to, and for the adventurous DJ can even be played. 

A2 has an eerie yet catchy synth which causes a great deal of anticipation that keeps rising as the track is going until the end where constant, synth-sounding, stabbing melodies end the first segment of the EP.

B1 has a sound somewhat resembling a high pitched synth accompanied with a melody and a huge kick. There’s a silence for relief mid-track until all the elements come back together for a drop which, after a few bars, we hear the first snare or hi end of the EP. And it doesn’t last long as XULI goes back to the distorted rumbling baseline and the melody fades out, and you're left with the most awesome sounding feedback, before a vocal recording comes in. As the track ends, it doesn’t really stop, just rather mixes in to B2, which we can only assume ends when the vocal fades out and a constant baseline takes front row to even the melodies.