|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
LP
|
|
UR 130LP
|
Punctual like a Swiss watch, Driftmachine presents a new album that once again astounds and delights. Spume & Recollection is the sixth Umor Rex album by the Berlin duo. Regarding Nocturnes (2014), their debut album, Umor Rex described their sound as precise and symmetrical, identical concrete blocks mounted and articulated in a random order. Their already obsessive style continued to evolve with their third record, Colliding Contours (2016), now pushing further into abstract dub, ultra-tense grooves, and even more kinetic loops, moving further away from conventional musical structures. Between these two albums they released the remarkable Eis Heauton (HG 1601LP, 2015), a kind of hypnotic experiment informed by shadowy atmospheres, chance, and an intuitive dialogue with their musical machines. A similar map was explored with Shunter (UR 113LP, 2018), a superb secret meeting between avant-garde phantasmagoria and concrete experimentation. Radiations (2017) offered B-sides and bonus tracks, in addition to collaborations with Shackleton and The Sight Below, a kind of preamble that united Driftmachine's different expressions and leanings. When Andreas Gerth and Florian Zimmer come up with new material, one listens with high expectation. Looking back on their discography, one could safely anticipate a high-quality album densely layered with their familiar leitmotifs. Yet, Spume & Recollection takes you by surprise and finds a new way to transfix. Fresh methods and ideas are introduced to their dynamics and formula. You can still expect a healthy dose of kosmische, a dominant feature in Driftmachine's DNA; but this is now entwined with novel materials, semi-material patterns of alien code stretching over exhilaratingly tense and detailed grooves, clouds of gas shifting on top of deep dub architecture and blocking out the sun for prismatic effect. Even more of a surprise is the immediate, streamlined nature of these tracks, making Spume & Recollection their most accessible record and, perhaps, the most addictive (and this without sacrificing the essential mystery and strangeness at the core of Driftmachine's sound). Umor Rex have previously described their work as post-industrial-dub; right now, it could be called hypno-music for man and machine to dance and dream together. Spume & Recollection takes this concept as far as it can go without breaking, and finds some strange new feelings, and weirdly danceable grooves, to shed some light on this dark and dazzling ride. Mastered by John Tejada. Artwork and photos by Daniel Castrejón. Violet vinyl; includes download code; edition of 300.
|
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
12"
|
|
UR 113LP
|
2018 release. Shunter, the album by the Berlin-based duo Driftmachine, is their most ambitious work to date. Although instantly recognizable, featuring their trademark kosmische and avant-garde sounds, it also presents a new journey into abstract and hallucinatory worlds. Filled with eerie textures, their electronic visions are darker and more vaporous than ever. Driftmachine's fourth album (also the fourth one for Umor Rex) offers a new perspective on their ample sound spectrum and systemic narratives. Shunter overlaps and mutates their post-industrial-dub motives. It was conceived and produced in search of a very different kind of imagery, with sections of noise and field recordings intersecting with analogue sounds; a mixture of contrasted fragments, where the usual creative process of modular-synthesis leads Andreas Gerth and Florian Zimmer to the discovery of a dark, hazy and diffused experience. There is a protean quality to the rhythmic elements, with tempos constantly contracting and expanding, a departure from the mono-beat-rhythms of "Nocturnes" and "Colliding Contours". The first half of Shunter is made of four pieces named "Shift"; although individually separated, they are conceptually linked and can be understood as a sort of score. Imagine a late stage of the industrial revolution, with the interaction between heavy machinery and human beings. The second half of the album is not completely separated, but it has three other substantial melodic moments. Somewhere between the hauntological and the realms of archive-music, a huge range of subterranean beats and distinct patterns dotting the landscape of early electronic and post dub music. All songs written and produced by Driftmachine, Berlin. Design by Daniel Castrejón. Mastered by Rafael Anton Irisarri.
|
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
LP
|
|
HG 1601LP
|
Berlin electronic duo Driftmachine follow their 2014 debut, Nocturnes, with Eis Heauton, which takes its title from the Greek phrase "ta eis heauton," or, roughly, "a conversation with oneself." Accordingly, the album was constructed from self-generating patches, with Florian Zimmer (Saroos) and Andreas Gerth (Tied & Tickled Trio) providing technical parameters and letting their modular system talk in its own musical language. The self-generating patches recorded here can be understood as a transcript of those machine-produced monologues, and as artistic research. By evoking a ghostly presence of modular synthesis, the duo find traces of individuality inside their machines. Eis Heauton exhibits a strange and haunting musical cosmos, a quality that is always present in Driftmachine's live shows. Originally released on cassette by Umor Rex in 2015.
|
|
|
|