IDM. Intelligent Dance Music. It might very well be the most loathed name for a musical genre ever. The name suggests rationally conceived music, or even music that contains no emotion. The two musicians behind Hydrus have a quite cerebral way of working alright. They program their own patches for electronic software and they love to work on their sounds endlessly. We were told they once tweaked the sound of a hi-hat for one whole week. Hydrus are obsessed with giving each of their sounds the room it needs, the right place in their music. They know how to isolate it or let the different sounds talk to each other. The end result is a graceful musical environment of their own.
On their early releases for Narrominded, their style was in line with IDM-icons like Plaid and Autechre. But Hydrus are slowly - it's almost ten years since their debut release, a split lp with Kettel - finding their own sound. On Nodes, they incorporate a tad of electronic jazz and deep dubby basses. Highlight is Micronaut, an emotional electronic track that goes straight to the heart. That's what Hydrus can do with technology.
