Glitch Mob & Edit

Los Angeles' laptop quartet Glitch Mob, formed in 2006 by Edit (Edward Ma), who had already released the solo album Crying Over Pros for No Reason (Planet Mu, 2004) and was already working on Certified Air Raid Material (Alpha Pup, 2007), with Boreta (Justin Boreta), Kraddy (Matthew Kratz) and Ooah (Josh Mayer), began performing music after the introduction of JazzMutant's customizable Lemur (that used Open Sound Control instead of MIDI), the first multi-touch device, even predating the iPhone, a device that allowed ten fingers to input signals onto a touch-screen. The Lemur and traditional controllers (such as MIDI controllers) allowed them to control synthesizers, mixing consoles, etc. Drink the Sea (2010), released after Kraddy had left the band, contains the funky and jazzy single Drive It Like You Stole It that made them famous, followed by the single Warrior Concerto. The songs recycle stereotypes of melodic prog-rock of the 1970s, especially the more futuristic albums by Yes, Parson Sound and Rush, concocting a menacing mixture of funk, jazz and pop over hip-hop beats. influenced by Skrillex's bass-heavy dubstep. The martial and gothic Animus Vox sets the mood. The booming beats begin with Bad Wings, that slowly builds up a grandiose atmosphere with floating vocals and synth-pop melody. How to Be Eaten by a Woman bridges soul-rock jam and pounding heavy-metal glory. A Dream Within a Dream is emblematic of how they can match a simple, poppy melody with creative drumming and thundering bass lines. Chopped-up vocals intone an eerie litany. The ethereal female vocals return in Between Two Points. Rapid-fire bass lines create the tension from which the bouncy refrain of We Swarm explodes. Love Death Immortality (2014), in a radically different style, and See Without Eyes (2018) were vastly inferior.