Paul Thomsen Kirk’s output as Akatombo has always leaned more into the harsher side of danceable beats and electronics, but on his fourth album, he has pushed that envelope even further. Huge bass-heavy beats, weird lo-fi sample loops and random sounds abound, and the result is an album that is reminiscent of a more westernized Muslimgauze or the best moments of late-period Techno Animal.
Other than contributing to Graham Lewis’ recent All Over record, Kirk has been largely silent since 2012's False Positives.Sometime, Never feels like the logical follow-up to that record, but with a decidedly rawer edge.Kirk's use of intense bass and distortion is even more prevalent on here than it was previously, giving Sometime, Never a more sinister, angry vibe compared to the other albums.This may be the result of serious health concerns that Kirk has faced since the release of False Positives, resulting in a more aggressive, but cathartic record.
His use of big, but ragged lo-fi drum loops on songs such as "Snark und Troll" and "Vincere vel Mori" are where I felt the greatest parallels with Bryn Jones' work.While lacking the use of tabla and other Middle Eastern percussion, his weaving together of dramatic, noisy drum loops and distorted found sounds has that same oppressive, yet memorable harshness while retaining a catchy beat.
Other songs harken back more towards the aggressive tail end of the ambient dub scene, which burned out aggressively via the early 2000s output of Scorn and Techno Animal.The foundation shaking heavy dub bass of "Stasiland" has the same low frequency pummeling intensity of Mick Harris' work, but within a denser, less minimalist framework.The forceful ambience and heavily processed vintage drum machine sounds, blended with explosive outbursts and excessive distortion on "Click/bate" balances that complexity and chaos as Techno Animal did on their run of brilliant Position Chrome singles in the late 1990s.
Kirk's work may have similarities to the other artists I mentioned, but never does it sound like a direct copy or emulation.He also dials back the intensity here and there, such as on the more hip-hop paced "Matching Muzzles," which seems to be a blend of random voice samples with extremely angry dot matrix printers.He attempts a more conventional techno rhythm on "Mission Creep," but it is pushed into the red and brilliantly distorted.For "Scans & Needles," he drops the rhythms entirely, instead making for a brilliantly disturbing slice of cinematic music fitting the frightening title.
On the latter half of the disc, he even introduces some guitar to push the overall sound in another direction entirely."Convict A45522" has hints of sampled guitar amidst the big, bleepy industrial beats, while "Cold Call" goes balls out into an industrial metal guitar chug.Rife with overdrive and programmed rhythms, it is one of the rare instances where an industrial metal techno hybrid works extremely well.
Kirk’s darker, more aggressive mood may have been brought on by the darker moments in his recent years, but channeling it into Sometime, Never has resulted in a gripping, powerful album that never relents.Maybe it is just the greater amount of darkness or aggression that I am latching on to, but as of now this is a high water mark in his already impressive discography.
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