One of the latest releases from the esoteric electronic label Orange Milk Records is PROBLEMS’ (aka Darren Keen) This is Working Out: a satirical take on the exhausting workout qualities that house music shares with hitting the gym. Or ironically so. With song titles like “LSD PROTEIN SHAKE,” “GAS STATION STEROIDS,” and “CELEBRATING THE LOSS OF A SINGLE POUND,” these tracks are playful but to be taken seriously. We’re revved up from the jump with the forward-moving, psychedelic rave stylings of “I CAN’T JUMP,” before we’re dropped off with the deep cut title track.  

From the moment we hear the first abstract drop, this record will have you in the rave mindset. There is up-tempo consistency throughout all nine of the tracks. The finest example of this is the immaculate transition between the second and third tracks, “EXERCISE IN EXERCISE” and “DUMBBELL LIFTS A BARBELL,” where it becomes apparent that this LP is more hypnotizing than a conscious-listening experience. It’s a half-hour of house-music hypeness. The synth hits are evocative of French while also containing the forward-thinking blips and bloops that we find scattered under the umbrella of hyperpop today. It’s a fun record, yet it’s consciously aware of what it wants to be: next-level dance music.

The transitions are flawless on this record, almost like you’re listening to a fresh festival mix front to back. (As it turns out, a description on the album’s Bandcamp page also boasts this record’s live-element fascination: “I can see this material absolutely bumping through a massive system with subs.” Absolutely.) It contains a plethora of the transportive properties of dance music and employs them quite magically. So many times throughout this record I would find myself wondering when the songs had switched, and then look down at my phone to see foreign song titles like “SWIM WITH SHARKS” and “DOWN TO BEEF UP” on my lock screen and seeing that I missed three tracks in between. It kept me coming back; that’s for sure.

This is Working Out by PROBLEMS

The thing about most Orange Milk releases is that they’re playful in their own right. PROBLEMS may have a different style than the previous three or four OM releases before or after them, but they’re no more different then the rest of the occult roster that the label boasts. From making songs about his Pekingese dogs and how to make your computer sing to you, PROBLEMS sure fits the playful archetype of artists such as Giant Claw (Keith Rankin, one of the founders of Orange Milk), More Eaze, Galen Tipton, and many, many more.

PROBLEMS’ This is Working Out is one hell of a catchy record that, if you give it a chance, will have you listening deep into the waning summer. The climatic moment for me came on “SWIM WITH SHARKS,” which sounds something like a remix of a haunted Super Mario soundtrack. This is when things really started to rave. The three-song buildup into the aforementioned track and then one of the album’s most flawless transitions to “CELEBRATING THE LOSS OF A SINGLE POUND,” these grandiose dystopian vibrations ring well to a listener’s ears.