- Mary Stamm-Clarke
- Lone
In a “Guest List” feature he did for Pitchfork last year, British electronic producer Lone, aka Matt Cutler, described the lo-fi artist Nite Jewel’s work as, “perfect music for that weird time between awake and being in a dream.” That’s also a pretty good description of Lone’s music. Though his music is more propulsive and energetic than Nite Jewel’s it’s nevertheless the kind of material you’d bust out at dawn, when dancers and rave kids are at the peak of blissful exhaustion. Equipped with a deep knowledge of rave music and its history, Lone’s albums provide his signature take on various genres of dance music: throwback Chicago house, 90s hip-hop, electro, and Detroit techno beats topped off by textbook-IDM keyboard sounds like bells and ghostly keyboards. Last year’s Reality Testing turned the tempo down a notch, aiming for the kind of head-nodding boom-bap of J Dilla and DJ Premier and recalling broken beat, the jazz-fusion-inspired downtempo electronic music that was fashionable in the early-to-mid aughts. On Thursday Lone stops by Smart Bar; check out today’s 12 O’Clock Track, “2 Is 8,” a highlight from Reality Testing, below.