Tibshelf: Understander

Founder of Newcastle’s Tusk Festival and formerly of Posset, gadget wrangler Lee Etherington returns for another dose of sonic lunacy under the Tibshelf moniker.

Slice and dice psychedelia that opens the history books of music from the last 60 years, Tibshelf’s second album, Understander, is like some futuristic mind-fuckery that every crate digger and music nerd need in their lives.

To get to grips with the absurd sound collages of Understander is quite teh task. Etherington regularly colours outside the lines here, and that’s what makes the album what it is. While the frame of mind is an important thing where albums like this are concerned, the key is to be totally out of it with your relevant agent of choice.

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Take opening gambit, Old Spice. Not just the title, but the track itself is all killer no filler. With wicked and warped soundbites of…I Care Because You Do-era Aphex Twin, Etherington pits this sort of IDM blur against trip-hop-inspired dreadscapes.

The fever dream continues during the equally wicked titled The Embalmer. With a mashup of tumbling synths and samples from a daytime television soap opera, Etherington also throws in some some splintered saxophone skronk for good measure. The result is technicoloured majesty.

Deep Joy is just that. Blending dead-eyed warehouse IDM with summer festival euphoria, it’s the kind of stuff daydreams are made from. Which is something Background is not. Inspired by damp carnival grounds, an image of flashing lights and the mechanical thrum of roller coasters, carousels and dodgem cars all combine to form an acid trip wall of sound.

And while the Kill Power sees Etherington exploring the past and present of technology as Detroit techno takes to the streets underlining the civic vitality of the hustle and bustle, he takes it down a notch towards the album’s backend.

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The gooey broth that is Bump It mixes funk and Pop Group-inspired melodies with ’80s hip-hop. Then there’s Journey. A beautiful soul-pop cut that Grails have mastered over their last two records, but here Tibshelf adds another wonderful patina with a sample riff that jolts the heart.

Finishing with Sponge is fitting. Not only because it comes as advertised, but it soaks up the remnants of the preceding seven tracks in what is something likened to walking through the miasma of a fantasy world.

Whilst there is a lot to unpack on Understander, records like this are purely steeped in outlier culture. The punks, the metal heads, the goths, the ravers. Hell, even the suited and booted who have spent their existence trying to escape the Groundhog Day office environment. Understander is the mecca to marginal culture, and the clue is staring us in the face. Just look at the album title.

Understander is out now via Cruel Nature Records. Purchase from Bandcamp.