Album Review/ Avant Garde : Bloomfield Machine’s ‘Algorithm and Blues’

Bloomfield Machine is a musical project that is known for its overarching love for conceptual experimentation. The artist ushers in a new frame for modern electronica, creating abstract and contemporary musical presentations of thoughts, ideas, and feelings. Their latest release is ‘Algorithms & Blues’, a series where the artist blends cerebral rhythms and mathematical flows with the layered landscapes of human emotion.

This collection forms in the space where predictable patterns meet complex and mercurial tides of feeling. 

Across the album, you’ll encounter a lot of interesting ambiences, moments of deep musical enquiry and creativity. The 15 track collection is fresh, unexpected and unique. The best way to enjoy it is to surrender to its reality, to its world of possibilities. That’s when it starts talking to you. In many ways, the album has a way of revealing to you, how you think, how you feel. Listen Now! 

‘A variation of nothing’ opens the track. Its moody grooves and fuzzy riffs set up a daze that you enter and drive deep into. The artist draws you into his style, slowly. Sets the listener up for it and then slowly takes you deeper. Infusing 20th century reminiscent rock and blues into an abstract flow and a thoughtful frame, he sets the stage. ‘Chemical Embrace’ follows. A track that keeps with the classic rock and blues vein but distorts it a little bit more with electronic grooves and texture. It has some sensual undertones and psychedelic touches that draw you into itself. Into its embrace if you will.

With each track, the artist brings more and more texture to the scene. Gently progressing into a distortive plane, without desensitising you to the feeling, the emotion of it. That’s how he keeps forging a sense of openness and intimacy in the listener towards his musical ideas. In tracks like ‘Algorithm & Blues’, the emotion is intentionally buried under electronic debris. So many times, we find that our feelings are lost under so many layers of thoughts, perception and perspectives. We see a similar musical exploration in ‘The Waiting Room’ and ‘Distraction Machine’. 

In ‘The Engineered Life’, ‘Forensic Smiles’ and ‘Stop The Hammering’, the artist draws us into a deeper cave of electronica. With drum n bass frames blending into rhythm distortions, spontaneous melodic patterns, each one has its own feel. Its own world that each person interprets according to what they pick up on, at that moment. Which also means that you’ll gain a different feel every time you listen to it. They are wilfully abstract and confounding. Especially because it’s so far away from the norm. It makes you lean closer to get a sense of it. 

On the other hand, tracks like ‘Aggressively Unproductive’, ‘Hiccup Culture’, ‘Deep Dish Dharma’, and ‘Threat of Clarity’ are marked by bold imprints. They are undeniable in their musicality and energy. Their piercing textures project quite well and sweep through the mind to create feeling. They are especially special because of the stylistic weight they add to the album. 

In the final stylistic category within the album, we have tracks like ‘Meander’, ‘The Void for Beginners’ and ‘Time Blind (Alternate)’. While the first one has a more melodic and mellow character, the last two have experimental flavour. However, all three of them assert an ambience that you will not forget in a hurry. Vivid and dazing at the same time, they are like ocean tides that keep returning to the mind and calling you back.

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The album is available for streaming on popular sites like Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, and Amazon Music! 

You can listen to ‘Algorithm & Blues’ by Bloomfield Machine -