Mr. X – Production Unit Xero (2024) – Album Review

Album: Mr. X

Artist: Production Unit Xero

Release Date: March 1, 2024

If you’ve never heard a Production Unit Xero album, “Mr. X” is probably the best way to be introduced to their work. “Mr. X,” released on March 1, 2024, by Production Unit Xero (also known as Ramon Mills), feels like a personal journey through time – BPM or otherwise. In my opinion, it’s somewhat of a culmination. With genres ricocheting from footwork jungle to glitch, ambient to juke, and zipping past the moons of experimental techno, every track is a rabbit hole of its own – ready to swallow you whole. But the crazy part is that these tracks weave together a cohesive blueprint, and while each track stands on their own three feet all by themselves, there’s a bigger story afoot.

“Octarine Juke” plunges you head first into to the thick of it with top notch drum production – lots of tight beats and beautiful backing melodies setting a perfect tone of exploration. Where are we going? Well, Dick Gregory is about to explain it to us. And in “Magic Glasses” we’re fully submerged. It’s a fast paced portal into a storm cloud. The storm cloud is “Aethyr Breezeway” and it’s such a catchy pause in the chaos until the rain unleashes you back down to the planet your visiting. “Bubble Control One” is a chemical reaction of beats and bass. It feels like a controlled descent into a more rhythmic and pulsating environment, demonstrating Mills’ skill in crafting compelling beat-driven music. “ZPF Type Beats” really drives the point home with outstanding and intense delayed beats that create a sense of urgency and intensity.

The description of this album describes “World Building” but honestly I have no idea what world I’m in right now – I’m just along for the ride. “Mr. X’s Theme” blends outstanding melodies with a steady, throbbing preciseness – that’s the only way to describe this – precise. The way melodies are constructed on this album (and on a lot of other Production Unit Xero albums) is that they seem to be inverse to the space they’re supposed to (whatever that means) fit in – inverse to the space that some convention says they should occupy. It’s what I love most about Mills’ music.

I don’t want to spoil this album for you. In “Mr. X,” Production Unit Xero doesn’t just create an album; Mills crafts an experience, a wild ride through their own personal journey. It’s not just a mix of genres and emotions – it’s a potion that’s exhilarating and downright intoxicating. This album is one to live inside, to explore, and to let transform you.

Would absolutely recommend.