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Various Artists: Redline Impact review – thrilling dive into east Asian hyper-electronics
This exhilarating compilation pushes from K-pop to trance, hardstyle techno, budots and beyond – and is at its best when artists rachet up the intensity
From the kitsch melodies of the Filipino budots style to the uptempo house of Indonesian funkot and the melodramatic EDM drops of Vietnamese vinahouse, Redline Legends showcased the homegrown artists pioneering this frantic, lo-fi music. Indonesian producer Toxicdev’s Cinta&Balapan, for instance, explodes from a hyperpop template into a double-time trance track that is so melodically bright and fast it feels like a sugar rush-induced heart attack, while Korean-Australian boyband 1300’s earth-shaking bass on Dowho plays like a mashup of K-pop and grime, and J-pop group Pas Tasta’s blend of pop melodies, screamo vocals and pounding hardcore drums is invigoratingly unpredictable. Crate-digging duo Dar Disku release their self-titled debut (Soundway Records), producing convincing versions of Ethio-jazz, Turkish psych and Bollywood disco that translates the archive-hunting of labels such as Habibi Funk into the present day.
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