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East Van Digital presents our 10th artist LP, My Electronic Friends “Temporal Echoes”.

Do you know Clarence Chu? If not, you might think you do after listening to Temporal Echoes, his superbly produced debut full-length under the name My Electronic Friends. In not so many words, there is semi-autobiographical feel embedded throughout this album.

First, a bit of history. Having caught the bug from late night college radio shows and CBC's Brave New Waves, Chu has been a long-time mover and shaker in BC's electronic music scene. As DJ Lemon, he helped usher in the first wave of drum and bass to the West Coast in the late '90s, lucky enough to play alongside the renowned likes of LTJ Bukem, Roni Size and Grooverider.

Since then, Chu has produced soundtracks and scores for UBC arts projects and the Vancouver Fringe Festival, later fusing jazz, rock, folk, and hip-hop with electronic beats and textures for a project called Bedroomstudio, which released a critically lauded full-length in 2005, and creating a project called True Fold with vocalist Jessica Vaira, that gave us the Perspectives album in 2008. His work has spiralled outward from there, producing everything from hip-hop to heavy metal with the likes of Mike Soviet, M.C. Dosia, Jessica Beach, and Eveningwood.

In recent years, Chu began to turn his focus inward, on his own tastes and sounds. The fruits of this pursuit are what constitute Temporal Echoes. Brooding opener, "New Toys" is something like a birth, the gurgling 303 programming evoking baby babble, its insinuated theme about learning skills, how to use new toys. Continuing the narrative, Chu's pop-house remix of "Fine Thing" by Chantel Upshaw, originally from her 2012 debut True Tales from Vandaluse, starts with the processed sounds of children playing in a park, building with emotion and intensity in a way that could be interpreted as a coming of age.

Jazzy breakbeat track "On My Mind" is a remembrance of youth, when music was all he thought about, recalling the stoned bliss of long bus rides from UBC listening to house music in his headphones. Pushing up the BPM with techy sounds and symphonic samples, "Second Coming" is a throwback to his soundtracking and drum 'n' bass days. With influence from film noir and sci-fi, "Reboot" is a literal rebuilding of passion, taking Chu around seven years to complete, and strangely capturing that whole period in the process.

You certainly don't need to know Chu's history to dig this record, though. The variety and quality of the beats here are worthy on their own. With additional keyboards and programming from Tim Hinds, "Autumn" has massive bass and a hint of cheekiness, sounding a bit like Tokimonsta. The old school house of "Dark Soul" and German techno of "Poundcake" takes you from the club to the warehouse, while "Your Leaders" takes you to the after-party, discussing our loathing for government conspiracy on the ride there. The smooth, spacey flow from forest elves of "The Return" to the mellow vocal drum & bass remix of Upshaw's "On The Outside" caps the album on a hypnotising note, practically begging for repeat plays.

The album is sure to inspire nostalgia in those who experience the late '90s firsthand, with just enough of an update to inspire the younger generation to dig deeper.

Beatport: http://classic.beatport.com/release/temporal-echoes/1497078
iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/ca/album/temporal-echoes/id978370773
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/7mq2Jym9mG9yZBekTu7xcA