“Living Things” succeeds especially in its intimacy, permitting listeners to scrutinize its multifaceted underbelly of staccato crackling and gurgling wetness. They will find themselves rapt with attention, trying to discern in all that murky, bubbling saturation where exactly the drum machine dwells. Like a patient and secretive swamp creature, it doesn’t want to be found, and that is precisely the beauty of this release.
Category: Featured Reviews
Igorrr – Baroquecore EP
Here at Connexion Bizarre we have had nothing but admiration for Serre Gautier ever since we received a copy of “Poisson Soluble”, his first release as Igorrr. Since then, he hasn’t ceased to come up with surprising material, even considering one already expects from him the most insane, genre-defying mash-up music. “Baroquecore EP” is no exception.
Yen Pox – Blood Music
A great retrospective look at a long career within the genre. Stylistically, their sound hasn’t changed much – brooding drones with incidental stabs of unexpected nihilism, sparsely populated with unexpected, chilling textures, and steering well clear of such archaic conventions as rhythm, melody or time signatures.
zNo – I
As a whole, zNo is a good example of what characterizes some of the more aggressive and intelligent contemporary French underground electronics, especially metal-influenced industrial (without veering into rock territory) and comparisons to acts like Sonic Area and Le Diktat may come to mind.
Tzolk’in – Tonatiuh
The broad spectrum of sounds created by Tzolk’in on “Tonatiuh” will appeal to followers of industrial, ambient and even some psytrance; it’s a wonderful illustration of tribal sensibilities, executed in a contemporary, cutting-edge electronic medium. Powerful, stirring stuff, indeed.
Lucidstatic – Symbiont Underground
Despite the fluid shifts in mood each contributing artist brings to “Symbiont Underground”, this double album is a pleasure to listen to, gathering influence from a broad spectrum of genres and laying it all out over two CDs of what remains, in essence, pure Lucidstatic nastiness, made all the more offensive via distillation through the ears and machines of some of the most talented collaborators in the evolving industrial community.
Celluloide – Hexagonal
For all you synthpop lovers out there, especially if you like to flirt with electronic body music, or if you are rather moved by the voices of French ladies, this one would be a well-deserved addition to your collection. And if you only quite like synthpop, have a listen anyway, you might like what you hear.
Kinetix / Pylône – Sonology
Both artists are masters of subtle movement and minuscule fluctuations, and both also express an aesthetic that escapes the constraints of time, casting the listener into uncharted depths filled with drones and half-formed sentience. “Sonology” is an excursion in perception and sublimity, and a fine example of artistic alignment.
Dirk Geiger – Autumn Fields
Dirk Geiger’s first release on Tympanik Audio was something of a surprise, once given the chance to properly sink in. A fluid blend of glitch, IDM and field-recordings from daily life, this album can be something of an immersive experience, all it requires are the right mindset and listening conditions to click.
Access to Arasaka – void();
For those familiar with Access to Arasaka (or this kind of aesthetic), and despite its quality and the fact that it provides a pleasing and solidly rewarding listening experience, “void();” can hardly be said to be a surprising release. But for those unfamiliar, Access to Arasaka can open up some interesting aural vistas.