One of the more compelling stories to watch as we head into the final quarter of 2016 will be the assimilation of We Roll Like Madmen. With a heady, diverse new record about to hit the streets, exactly how will the recent South Carolina transplants manage to merge themselves into the local scene? If there is a center of gravity to the electronic duo’s eclectic fusion of sounds, it’s their deft interweaving of EDM and hip-hop, but the group’s breadth is such that they could find a home in any number of Atlanta’s many microcosms and sub-scenes.
AF is Chris Tollack and Jordan Young’s first major effort since releasing the Hermetic Vol. 1 and The Kids Must Die EPs in 2014, and it finds the pair intermingling an assortment of incisive beats and deep bass grooves with everything from neon-flecked house to lush synthpop to celestial ambient. In lesser hands, such a wide diversity might come as fractured or labored, but here even the most calm and reflective tracks, such as the pensive mid-album cut “Normal,” is unified by the duo’s unique sense of kinetic movement and knack for hypnotic melodies.
Neither too lavish nor effusive, AF is a record that should be equally welcome in the club as it is in a dingy basement bar or the meditative seclusion of your bedroom. That’s a delicate balance to strike, but for WRLM it seems to arrive as second nature. It will be interesting to see the direction that group takes as we head into 2017—where they perform, and what sorts of bills they wind up on. With a record this dynamic and far-reaching, anything is possible.
AF is out October 7 via Post-Echo.
More Info
Web: werolllikemadmen.com
Bandcamp: werolllikemadmen.bandcamp.com
Facebook: @werolllikemadmen
Instagram: @werolllikemadmen
SoundCloud: @werolllikemadmen
Twitter: @wrlmadmen