Cheju - Partition
[October Man]

Wil Bolton's resume is something his peers should aspire to. Past releases have seen him involved with Static Caravan, Acrylik, Lacedmilk, Unlabel and of course Boltfish, the label he co-runs with friend and fellow electronic musician MINT (who incidentally offers a remix of Outdubstarn here).

CHEjU's latest offering can see the talented London based artist adding October Man Records to his CV, with this blistering 5 track collection that manages to challenge borders of electronic music by flirting with contrasting styles. Firstly, Data Packet is a beautiful melange of sounds; with Bolton merging downbeat electronica, trip hop drums, juddering spasms and corrupted glitches.

On Sundial, the crackles of Opiate fizz over vintage piano notes, yet from here, Fennesz style processed textures are overlaid with beeps and alien radio signals on Outdubstarn. Casiotonic is incredibly pretty and the most lovely thing I've heard from CHEjU, with its cute keyboards, angelic melodies and the gentle patter of drums.

Partition skips gracefully through the history of music, soaking up vast influences of both nostalgia and contemporary styles. But one thing has to be questioned - just why isn't an artist as talented as CHEjU more well know?