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badmammal is the alias of Chris Matule, a musician and artist based in San Francisco. He also releases drum & bass under the name of messenger and has had releases on labels like Ohm Resistance. However, his latest release is Desobrigamento, his fourth album as badmammal, out now on his own label Goodluck/Badluck.

"I'm not the 'front man' type," he says. "I'm not into seeking attention but I'm also not gonna lie and say I [write music] strictly for myself, I do enjoy getting good reactions. I suppose it's more to do with connecting with people as opposed to just having them reassure me of my worth."

On giving Desobrigamento a listen, it's not what I was expecting at all. Folky, rocky, dreamy, it reminds me of the Chemical Brothers' more mellow stuff with nods to 80s electro and 90s trip hop (as an aside, I think the climate is ripe for a trip hop revival – maybe I'll blog about that soon). Lots of different instruments, with a bias towards guitar, marry with purely electronically generated sounds.

In parts they can give the impression of being unpolished or slightly amateur, but give them time and the intention soon becomes apparent; building a phrase that makes complete sense of it all and makes you feel bad for ever having doubted it.

Memorial is particularly laid back and pretty as is Sending and Taking, while the lovely Assignment is sparse and floaty. Fall picks up the pace slightly at the halfway point but it would have been interesting to hear the more guitar-heavy, uptempo Setbacks earlier in the track listing to maintain the momentum. However the album the album flows nicely overall and works as an accomplished, stand-alone piece which deserves to be noticed.

Desobrigamento is available on Amazon, iTunes, CDbaby, directly from Goodluck/Badluck in CD format, and soon on Digital Tunes and Juno.

Sending and Taking by badmammal