The Field From Here We Go Sublime

For me, electronic music has primarily existed in the realm between my headphones. This is largely due to the fact that my opportunity to see innovative DJ's like a Ricardo Villalobos or a Booka Shade play live sets is fairly limited -- even in a great music mecca like Chicago. It's not that they won't come here at all, it's that when they do, they play a small club on a Tuesday at midnight. When I do go out to a club on a Saturday, chances are the DJ's will spin hip-hop most of the night. If the DJ is feeling adventurous, they might even throw in a Coldplay remix in the middle of the set. So it's fair to say that my experience with electronic music is, at best, incomplete. From the moment I started listening to this album, some of these voids were filled.

The Field's new album, From Here We Go Sublime, is brilliant in that it encapsulates many of the best ideas in the genre from at least the last 20 years. For this reason, it's an album that has the potential to transcend the obsessive nomenclature that seems to confine electronic artists and labels; a malaise that seems to affect electronic music in particular.

At its heart, this album is dance music meant to move a dance floor. But it's also as dense and interesting as say, a Fennesz album. Frankly, this is one best experienced and not written about. It's about textures, moods and progressions that will reveal themselves as you listen to it in different contexts. I apologize for the cliche, but it's fair to say if you don't find anything worthwhile somewhere in this record, you probably just don't enjoy electronic music.

I've never been to the club oasis of Ibiza, and I frankly don't know exactly what DJ's might be spinning there as I write this, but I can't imagine this wouldn't be the perfect music to compliment a Spanish sunset.