Virtuosic turntablist Mariam Rezaei returns with a batshit genre meltdown that uses next-level techniques to gesture towards Éliane Radigue, Vengaboys, AFX, Sonic Youth, Merzbow and Battles, sometimes all at once, featuring the inimitable voice of Elvin Brandhi, plus husband/collaborator Stewart Smith and Lukas König. It’s a total riot.
Freed from a trilogy that came to a conclusion last year with the excellent 'BOWN', Rezaei sounds invigorated on 'FRACTURED’, digesting the interplay between popularity, nostalgia and experimentation with a noisy - and occasionally meditative - ode to contemporary chaos that's eccentric and full of rebellious fervour. Elvin Brandhi's inimitable guttural screams loop and wind around ravaged, deconstructed trills on the brief-but-furious 'Weirdo club musics’, while 'Going straight (and fucking it up)', mangles club rhythms into juggled polyrhythms like some Windowlicker sideshow.
Mopcut's freeform noise is given the same level of irreverence on 'Cut', making impromptu loops from one of Audrey Chen, Julian Desprez and Lukas König's soundchecks and diverting it into stuttering mayhem. On 'Sines', Rezaei extracts brain-curdling warbles from sine waves, and she pays her respects to Éliane Radigue and Suzanne Ciani with typical verve on 'Vengabussed', editing a rendition of the melody from Vengaboys' 'We Like To Party!' and transforming '90s hedonism into a poignant synth lullaby. Stewart Smith's dirt-crusted guitar provides the source material for 'The rage (for Joëlle)', a Sunn O))) style doomer that's dedicated to double bassist and composer Joëlle Leandre, and adds Lukas König's lithe rhythms to the ensemble on 'Slipping', reassembling post rock on the fly like some lost collaboration between I-Sound and Gastr del Sol.
Throughout, Rezaei shifts the flavour of familiar ingredients, integrating them to create innovative new fusions to propose different ideas for the future. Her view of the outside world might be damaged, but 'FRACTURED' is surprisingly optimistic - and hugely enjoyable - warping known parameters into something bracingly fresh that’s especially tipped for the Evicshen, The Ephemeron Loop x Otomo Yoshihide mob. In other words, our kinda shit.
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Edition of 100 copies, includes a download of the album dropped to your account. Pro-dubbed tape with double sided on body artwork and double printed J-Card.
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Virtuosic turntablist Mariam Rezaei returns with a batshit genre meltdown that uses next-level techniques to gesture towards Éliane Radigue, Vengaboys, AFX, Sonic Youth, Merzbow and Battles, sometimes all at once, featuring the inimitable voice of Elvin Brandhi, plus husband/collaborator Stewart Smith and Lukas König. It’s a total riot.
Freed from a trilogy that came to a conclusion last year with the excellent 'BOWN', Rezaei sounds invigorated on 'FRACTURED’, digesting the interplay between popularity, nostalgia and experimentation with a noisy - and occasionally meditative - ode to contemporary chaos that's eccentric and full of rebellious fervour. Elvin Brandhi's inimitable guttural screams loop and wind around ravaged, deconstructed trills on the brief-but-furious 'Weirdo club musics’, while 'Going straight (and fucking it up)', mangles club rhythms into juggled polyrhythms like some Windowlicker sideshow.
Mopcut's freeform noise is given the same level of irreverence on 'Cut', making impromptu loops from one of Audrey Chen, Julian Desprez and Lukas König's soundchecks and diverting it into stuttering mayhem. On 'Sines', Rezaei extracts brain-curdling warbles from sine waves, and she pays her respects to Éliane Radigue and Suzanne Ciani with typical verve on 'Vengabussed', editing a rendition of the melody from Vengaboys' 'We Like To Party!' and transforming '90s hedonism into a poignant synth lullaby. Stewart Smith's dirt-crusted guitar provides the source material for 'The rage (for Joëlle)', a Sunn O))) style doomer that's dedicated to double bassist and composer Joëlle Leandre, and adds Lukas König's lithe rhythms to the ensemble on 'Slipping', reassembling post rock on the fly like some lost collaboration between I-Sound and Gastr del Sol.
Throughout, Rezaei shifts the flavour of familiar ingredients, integrating them to create innovative new fusions to propose different ideas for the future. Her view of the outside world might be damaged, but 'FRACTURED' is surprisingly optimistic - and hugely enjoyable - warping known parameters into something bracingly fresh that’s especially tipped for the Evicshen, The Ephemeron Loop x Otomo Yoshihide mob. In other words, our kinda shit.