Ultre - The Nest and the Skull [2009]

alright, dear readers, I am going to go out on a limb here and say that while I know roughly nothing about electronic music, Ultre's The Nest and the Skull is something like a masterpiece. from the very first second I was captivated, fascinated and overwhelmed. it's not the most original record ever written - Four Tet, Aphex Twin, Autechre and others are subtle influences - but Ultre's glitchy, delicate sound is honed almost to perfection with few errors. Ultre himself (whose real name is Finn McNicholas) describes his music as "clumsy but ambitious."

Ultre has created each sound and each beat himself from melancholy acoustic guitars, sweetly-plucked ukuleles, soft pianos, claps, thumps and even what sounds like the (filtered, chopped and distorted) sounds of his own breathing. at times, the percussion is just as interesting as the melody of the song itself. these samples stutter, sigh, hiccup and swell beautifully. each song follows its own unique path but takes many sharp turns and melodic detours along the way, ultimately ending up at its destination as a familiar but completely changed creature.

not every single song is equally exquisite - "Favourite Mammal," "The Smirks," "Peace Corpse," and album closer "A House Under Your Head" are some of the many standout tracks on this album - but each one is crafted with the same level of creativity and love, culminating in a record that is full of beauty, weirdness and remarkable innovation.



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