The discussion of the human element in electronic music might never end, with many artists paying lip service to the idea while still hunching over Ableton, ready to click the quantize button at all times. London-based producer Ryan Lee West (a.k.a. Rival Consoles) has firmly staked his claim on the populist side of the fence, dedicating himself to using only a small arsenal of hardware that he can engage with tangibly. “Voyager,” a track from his upcoming Odyssey EP for Erased Tapes (out on October 21), illustrates what can be done with a few carefully crafted elements and a lot of patience. Rival Consoles’ decidedly focused groove features a staccato bass and drum pattern that interlocks perfectly, creating a vacuum within which the array of shuffling atmospheric synths can swell victoriously. A hollow-timbred melody prances delicately into the mix, contrasted by the tension created by shuffling cross-rhythms, before the whole thing is swept away into an outro of mangled noise and calming chords that finally grind “Voyager” to a halt.

Voyager