I know absolutely nothing about Mordan Jaikel other than their name and that they make some of the most creative, eclectic collage music out there right now. After three fantastic cassettes on Mascarpone—True History, Soul Confusion, and Open Your Lie—we have the arrival of the enigmatic artist’s longest and most ambitious release yet. Dress for Success, a wonderfully sprawling tape that packs 39 short vignettes into less than a half hour, brings together the best of Mordan Jaikel’s endless stylistic plunderings. It’s probably their most Residents-indebted album so far, a facet of the music that remains faithful to the legendary art collective’s paradigms rather than simply aping their singular sound, manifesting as self-aware, synthetic pop secretions with all the loveable and slightly disturbing artificiality of Commercial Album. The sporadic forays into much more abstract sonic realms are also expanded upon, with tracks like “Post-Industrial Camouflage” feeling just as developed as the bite-sized songlets they’re sandwiched between. Dress for Success is delightful and dizzying throughout its entire duration, and you’ll constantly be finding yourself trying to keep up with the frenetic changes in pace, atmosphere, and energy as each of the 39 tracks mesmerize in their own special way.
Noise Not Music 