Daedelus & Jogger: Friends of Friends, Vol. 1

The first volume in the Friends of Friends series has electronica/IDM master Daedelus and newcomer Jogger hooking up for a six-track EP. And keeping in line with the namesake, both acts are actually friends. Half of Jogger attended high school with Daedelus and later played together in his side-project The Long Lost, which also features Daedelus’s wife. But on Friends of Friends, he and the like-minded duo of Jogger get split up to their respective sides, with each act contributing three songs of danceable, rhythm-driven grooves. While both contribute equally, stealing the show throughout is Jogger. “Nice Tights” and “Litre o’ Cola” are tempo-switching, layered, and bouncing pseudo-ravers with ass-shaking rhythms and glass-shattering bass. The eclipsing moment is “Nephicide”, a grandiose blend of growling vocals with Ratatat guitars and synthesizers, some of which sound right out of a John Carpenter soundtrack. The cuts from Daedelus, on the other hand, only bring it on one of three tracks. On “LA Nocturn”, he weaves a romantic tale through glitched drums, somber strings, and a plucked acoustic guitar. That’s not to “C’est Super”, an Avalanches-esque disco romp, and “Off to the Races”, an erratic droning party, are bad. They just fail to impress. In the end, though, one must wonder if Daedelus’s tracks would sound that much better had Jogger not stolen your attention. Either way, this EP is a welcome introduction to a duo that will likely make a splash in the coming months, even if Friends of Friends Vol. 1 is an average effort overall.