Seams: Quarters Full Time Hobby

A London producer transplanted to Berlin to make electronic music? It almost sounds too clichéd to be true, but Jami Welch's methods are, surprisingly, not as formulaic as you might think. The twentysomething's debut is quite obviously influenced by his surroundings: ice-cool industrial beats toggle for attention with glitchy 8-bit (ClapOne), syncopated synthesisers (Sitcom Apartment) and plenty of fuzz and hiss throughout. Welch's focus is largely on beats over melody, which isn't necessarily a good thing; the colourful squiggles of sound on Constant are buried by the rhythmic framework, while closer TXL is too disorienting to fully absorb. Other tracks (the clubby Rilo, the atmosphere-
heavy Hurry Guests) are crying out for a vocal of some sort to add crunch and context. Welch may have made a clever album, but there's no substitute for personality and soul. soundcloud.com/
seams
Download: Hurry Guests, Constants