Beaumont Hannant
Texturology

Often truly exceptional albums go unnoticed or, at least, are forgotten almost immediately. And it is only thanks to the word of mouth of the internet that one can discover such gems.

Texturology is one of these: the third work of English DJ and producer Beaumont Hannant, released in '94 (a rather prolific year for him, considering the three long-play releases and an immense amount of remixes), is an album of rare intensity and compactness that still sounds modern and fascinating. These seventy-two minutes of music intelligently explore various languages of nineties electronics, forging a hybrid of IDM dynamics and house excitement.

It clearly starts off with a bang with an ecstatic bacchanal capable of making anyone lose their mind in any serious club, Teqtonik is truly splendid and dancing to it is even more so... Vague slows down a bit already, but beneath the surface, a warm heart frantically beats and surely its presence infects those evocative ambient textures, apparently unflappable, with joyous anxiety. The rhythmic patterns that open Lannamarou declare the author's love for hip-hop and unfold over atypical almost acoustic sounds, yet so icy, while the entry of the kick drum and those liquid synth chords open new doors to the mind.
Crouton is the absolute masterpiece, ten minutes during which you go from Detroit to the Black Forest to Bristol without warning and find yourself catapulted into the dreamlike and cathartic whirl of rhythm and nuances, so precious and so light.
Oblique greatly slows down the pace and astonishes in skillfully crossing lysergic-electronic landscapes with warm ethnic shades, as if we were facing the most intimate core of the Invasori Del Cuore led by Jah Wobble. The following Woven Textures updates Tangerine Dream and their restless symphonies to the computer age, while Morphus becomes slightly disturbing without losing charm or rhythm.

In short, this Texturology has almost all the right qualities to be a true masterpiece, recover it as soon as possible and bask in its notes, you'll remember how creative the '90s were: behind the glitter and ripped jeans, behind the media clamors, there were those who made great music, and if glory and the masses didn't notice, it's their own loss. Meanwhile, we enjoy it, and it doesn't even matter if we're a little late.