Album Review

Naytronix – Dirty Glow

• 18th Oct 2012

The first thing that strikes you when listening to Dirty Glow is this would be a great record for a Saturday night. Dirty Glow is the debut offering from Naytronix, which is the stage name of Tune yards bassist Nate Bremmer and is released on Plug Records who in the past have been responsible for releases by the likes of Flying Lotus and Daedelus.

Brenner has been labelled the Bootsy Collins of California and on this evidence it’s easy to see why funk seems to flow through this guy’s bones. Naytronix doesn’t stray too far from his day job in Tuneyards on an album that proudly wears its influences on its sleeve. Over the course of forty minutes and eleven tracks Naytronix straps you in takes you on a journey through time from Kraftwerk, and Arthur Russell to Daft Punk and Chromeo with Dilla esque Hip Hop beats and Funk Brothers era horns sprinkled over the top for good measure.

Dirty Glow is a synth laden, beat driven, bass heavy funky electro journey. What Naytronix does a very good job of is bridging the gap between past of the future so just as you’re starting to think this is all starting to sound a bit familiar he hits with something that is certainly of the here and now.

The stand out track for me would be Baby Don’t Walk Away, which incorporates everything that’s good about this album. A mechanical driving hip hop beat leads into a soul spectacular with a new Orleans funk bassline which rolls the track along topped with fantastic brass and Brenner’s uplifting vocals.

Dirty Glow is an interesting and intriguing listen. It will be interesting to see where Naytronix goes from here considering how well he has constructed this record and you can tell he has put everything he has into it. Whether or not it stands the test of time and if its remembered in three five or even ten years time is a different matter. If not you’ve got your Saturday night record sorted for the next few months at least.