Black Origami

Jlin - Black Origami
Critic Score
Based on 16 reviews
2017 Ratings: #35 / 940
Year End Rank: #20
User Score
Based on 373 ratings
2017 Rank: #465
Liked by 11 people
May 19, 2017 / Release Date
LP / Format
Planet Mu / Label
Footwork, IDM / Genre
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CRITIC REVIEWS

100
AllMusic

Black Origami is a monumental achievement, yet it still seems like Jlin is just getting started.

91
Consequence of Sound

After spending a lot of time with the new LP, the early work seems almost naive, the product of someone still trying to find her voice ... And that’s simply because Black Origami is a massive breakthrough.

90
Exclaim!
It's earthy and futuristic, complex and linear, dance-y and a total mind-fuck. It's exactly what you'd expect from Jlin, but it's a total — and pleasant — surprise, too.
88
Pitchfork

The sophomore album from the brilliant producer turns the tools of footwork into an overwhelming piece of musical architecture, an epic treatise on where rhythm comes from and where it can go.

87
GIGsoup
While the record will undoubtedly be included on numerous year-end lists, its long-term value lies in its potential to dissolve arbitrary genre restraints and lift similar artists to greater heights.
84
Resident Advisor

Black Origami can be intimidating: it's dark, relentless, and makes substantial demands on the listener. But it's also powerful and distinctive. In the world of rhythmic electronic music, nobody else is doing it quite like this.

83
Pretty Much Amazing

Make no mistake—this is an album that’s challenging and demands attention, but if you can stay focused, you’ll be richly rewarded.

80
Tiny Mix Tapes
The long-fermented grammar of life articulated in footwork reincarnates on Jlin’s latest record as pure, intelligent substance, imbibed and outwardly projected to cultivate a deep nod of xenolalia: the divine, unaccountable performance of a language that the speaker has never formally acquired.
80
PopMatters
Fans of footwork and devotees of percussion will be sure to gravitate to this achievement, and it will likely earn her some crossover followers as well. It is a challenging and demanding, yet wholly edifying, work of rhythmic art.
80
The 405

Perhaps one of the greatest sources of tension on Black Origami is not knowing what shade of tense it’s going to be. From track-to-track, Jlin shifts moods with enough subtlety to sustain a through line but enough variation to prevent the album from ever losing your attention.

80
Clash

‘Black Origami’ is a record of experimentalism and inventiveness that reaches beyond novelty. It showcases an artist widening her scope of production, whilst maintaining an ear and a place for the dance floor birthplace of her genre.

80
Crack Magazine

Footwork has always been body music; dance music at its purest. Yet the avant-garde was never far away. With Black Origami Jlin has pushed both of these potentials to exhilarating extremes.

80
Mixmag
Sometimes the constant shifts can leave you reeling and wondering what Jlin is trying to get at, but it’s never long before they pick you up again and pull you back into it. This is the sound of a huge talent blossoming.
Quet
66

The elements introduced here are beautiful, but only work when isolated.

MinatoArisato
35

Uhm yeah, I just don't get the hype behind this record at all, a lot of the songs don't have much that interests me, they go on for way too long which is only amplified the album doesn't offer much variety in terms of sounds.

Best Track: Never Created, Never Destroyed
Worst Track: Carbon 7 (161)

Aoaystheory
85

EDIT: I feel like people rating this low just don't get it...it's footwork and the production is ridiculous. Like, I understand the perspective of not enjoying it, but in it's genre, it doesn't get much better and you have to have a special type of brain to assemble this record. Give it a few spins until your mind is able keep up with what you're hearing.

straight spazzing

slandro2
72

Footwork! This one is interesting. By taking away the melodic components of music, Jlin has crafted a rhythmic epic journey that has a potency to it I’ve rarely felt in recent years.

On the flip side, some of the tracks on here are less amazing than the others though it’s undoubtedly an important record for electronics as a whole

ShoegazeJake
100

Just insane

JohnnyBear
74

This album is wacko, there are standouts, I love Holy Child and Enigma. But although the sound of this album is so unique, I must say that throughout the experience, songs start blending together and don't really stand out. And although the sound is so different, the instrumentation doesn't experiment enough is my opinion, or just doesn't feel conclusive or satisfying by the end. Still really well-made material, though, and I'm curious as to what Jlin's other work is like.

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Added on: March 14, 2017