Datacide 18 Record Reviews by Low Entropy

Low Entropy record reviews from Datacide 18, written in 2019.

Current 909:
Something with Black in the Name
[aufnahme + wiedergabe – [a+w XXIII]

Current 909 is the project of Pure, who should be known by his releases on Praxis, his Loop recordings, or by being one half of Ilsa Gold.
Current 909 already had two outings in the ‘90s on Atmosfear recordings. These blended relentless Techno tactics with bleakest and darkest of atmospheres. And this is where this record continues. We have 4/4 and twisted rhythms and Techno percussions, and something like a perverted Lovecraftian Dark Ambient melange. And this combination works very well. Only 4 tracks, but the food of nightmares.

In a statement, Pure said he is interested in a certain thing, to connect the Techno ecstatics of the ‘90s with the sombre motions of ‘80s Industrial/left-field outings. A very fitting statement for this record, and I think he did succeed.

Patric Catani:
For Pit People (OST)
[Storage Records]

Patric Catani was the leading head case Gabba-Noize berserker in the ‘90s with his output as E-De Cologne, Eradicator and Test Tube Kid. His musical journey took him to other shores eventually too.

The latest permutation of this is the release here: a soundtrack for a video game called “Pit People”. This brings back memories of his mock game full-length album, The Horrible Plans Of Flex Busterman, and includes some of the best tricks and elements of that album.

But to me we find influences of all his anti-career here; the oddness of the Puppetmastaz, the Candie Hank insanity, withered traces of Breakcore rhythms, and maybe, maybe, some remote inspiration of Gabba.

But to give the lowdown, the dominating style is definitely video game music, with catchy melodies, ironic cheesiness, upbeat drumming, bleeps and clonks, and, without a doubt, a big smile during production.

If you like Catani’s music, give it a try. If you liked Flex Busterman – get this immediately!

Umwelt:
Abandon In Place
[New Flesh – NF20]

Umwelt has been releasing music for more than 20 years now. This is this French producer’s latest album. The Umwelt formula has always been: frontal and relentless Electro sensibilities mixed with dystopic sci-fi sentiments. For this release, the latter take the main part; this could be used without any edits as a soundtrack for the next Hollywood blockbusters as well as a French underground flick. As a Hardcore head, the style and execution of this sound brings back memories of Senical to me, of Somatic Responses and Six Shooter records – minus the stormtrooper drums, of course.

One of his most mature releases – and a must for any Umwelt fan.

Taciturne:
Old Bullschitt Vol. 14
[Not On Label – Taciturne Self-released]

Taciturne has put all his “Old Bullschitt Volumes” on Bandcamp now; these are unreleased tracks he did under the name Taciturne; and there are many of them.
I will review the final volume, number 14. Material from the ‘90s that until now never saw the light of day (the other volumes had been popping up here and there already in the last years, or rather decades).

If you know his outings on Fischkopf or Blut, you might already know what you would expect. On the one hand we have completely insane Hardcore and Gabber tracks. Imagine Thunderdome on Angel Dust or Crystal Meth. Shouts, bleeps, computer sounds and 909 drums.

But on the other hand we have more experimental affairs. It would be impossible to pin them down to any genre or concepts. There is influence of Chiptune, Dark Ambient, Harsh Noize, Industrial – but it evades these categories.

A great ‘signal from beyond the grave’ (Taciturne fans know what I am referencing here) by one of electronic music’s most talented producers.
And make sure to check out the other “Old Bullschitts” as well.

Drvg Cvltvre:
New York Trax Imports 03
[New York Trax Imports – NYTI03]

Drvg Cvltvre should not be an unknown name. It’s the alias of Vincent Koreman who already caused mayhem with, for example, his Ra-X moniker.
I mentioned Crystal Meth already. These are sounds as if Techno had taken its dose of DMT. Completely head cleaning, schizoid, mutated dance music deconstruction, as if some ‘80s Detroit producer had teamed up with H.R. Giger for a collaboration – and the producer did the painting and Giger controlled the drum machine.

This is not Gabber or Tek or anything like that, mind you. We have the basic framework of Techno here; but it’s taken to a scary level. So get on the dance floor – but take care.

Definitely worth a listen, and more importantly, a purchase.

The Mover:
Undetected Act From The Gloom Chamber
[Boidae – BOIDAE 004]

It’s a long time to wait for an album for 3 or maybe 4 years. But if I recall correctly, a new The Mover album was announced already some time after “Frontal Frustration” in 2003 – so we had to wait almost 15 years for this album! It had been awaited by the PCP fan base for a long time, but kept getting postponed.
What is interesting, and important in understanding this record, is the back story of its creation. Marc aka The Mover had finished a new album. He spent a lot of time and energy on it. He premiered the tracks at an album showcase party. There he had the feeling they were overproduced. They were missing the spark. Then, after another party, he felt a wave of inspiration. He quickly got to work and nailed the tracks of this record.

And, in my opinion, this was the best way to go on about this. This record captures the head-on, active, bold and intuitive approach that PCP records always had. He really hit the nail with this one.

Regarding the tracks, we have two things going on. Techno tracks that pose in the way of old gems like the Alien Christ tracks, or Nasty Django, and the other classics; but that at the same time feel fresh and new. And, equally interesting, and to me personally even more fascinating, are the Electro tracks that take up the other half of this record. PCP did indeed Electro in its heyday, but only very sparsely. So it’s a nice touch to see half of a record dedicated to it, as the PCP approach to Electro is unique and outstanding.

My favourite track by far though is the last track, Fire Cloud. Without a doubt it echoes The Art Of Stalking by Suburban Knight again, known to be a personal The Mover favourite. But more than that, it’s just a totally psychotic, driving, pushing Techno affair, like only a PCP artist could create.

Low Entropy

• Other texts by Low Entropy on datacide-magazine.com

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