One of the pioneering acts in the glitch/IDM area of music, Tipper, hit us up with yet another record. Right off the bat, I can’t vouch that it has the same kind of punch as say Jettison Mind Hatch or Forward Escape. Although, I think it’s a little unfair to compare it to said records, as Insolito is just an EP so it might be fitting to put it next to the likes of Lattice, Flunked, and such.
Even so, the overall mood of the record is fairly linear and doesn’t sway beyond its relaxed state. This uniformity kind of makes things blend up to the point where it’s a nondescript mass of sounds — on repeated and consecutive listens.
Now, that may sound a little discouraging, but the sound design is on point, like with any other Tipper album. It’s some of the best sound design you will hear in electronic music, alongside the likes of Amon Tobin or Ben Lukas Boysen and such. There’s plenty to chew on if you give Insolito an attentive listen in that sense and it can even be rewarding.
I can’t say Insolito is a step forward for Tipper in any sense though. It seems to take on very similar approaches as past releases and doesn’t show any clear signs of an attempt at pushing virtually anything forward. As a listener, this is the very opposite of a selling point, but as an artist, I can understand the wish to explore a realm in detail.
Insolito isn’t the Tipper I expected to see in 2021, but it isn’t otherwise either. It’s definitely worth popping into a playlist for an easy listening session, or one for admiring alluring sounds, but not much more than that. We’ll see what the future holds for Tipper.
