Oblio: Principle of Discovery
Album Review of Principle of Discovery, by Oblio [EP/12” 2008, Codek Records]
Rating: 4 out of 5
Italo-disco has seen a vital resurgence in the past decade as electronic musicians trawl the archives for cheekier synthetic sounds. Few artists have accomplished the reappropriation of this campy tradition with the graceful sleaze of Brooklyn duo Oblio. Made up of Moreno Visini of The Spy from Cairo and Sasa Crnobrnja of infamous porn-house pioneers In Flagranti, Oblio sound like the latter group’s raunchy electro-disco gone zen. Oblio’s music exudes sexuality, but with decidedly more sensual and spacious affectations. Principle of Discovery is the crystallization of their distinctly smooth and spacey aesthetic into a quasi-spiritual experience that will grab you in your sacral chakra and give you the aural equivalent of a prostate massage—without the mess.
Opener “Epicureanism” begins with a slow 4/4 beat and wavering, ethereal pads, giving way to a catchy slap-bass hook that carries it to its end. The acid-funk of the eponymous “Principle of Discovery” comes across as the most straightforward entry, hedging toward 80s-style electro. But it’s closing track “Faculty of Reincarnation” that’s the real clincher here: its massive, plodding beat is overshot by light-speed arpeggios that skitter across layers of bouncing electro-acid and sexy detuned pads.
By the end, they’ve thoroughly earned the right to their Harry Nilsson-referencing namesake: the protagonist of his cult film and album The Point!, Oblio is the only round-headed boy in Pointed Village—where everyone and everything has to have a point. Clever, right? Fittingly, if there is one word that encapsulates Oblio’s aesthetic it is definitely round. Every sound is unremittingly smooth; even the acid sequencers, bass-slaps and electro-funk squelches only serve to emphasize its sleek production. This is ultimately what makes Principle of Discovery stand out as a coherent—if short—artistic statement.
The sparse yet eminently pleasurable arrangements on Principle of Discovery retain some of the hedonistic imperative of In Flagranti’s output, but occupy a territory far removed from that project’s party-oriented electro-disco. Even so, Oblio wouldn’t feel out of place soundtracking a Kubrick-directed softcore porn.
Purchase Oblio: Principle of Discovery now.