The combination of Carsten Nicolai’s Alva Noto persona and Blixa Bargeld has been established as a live entity and the videos that have surfaced online have been tantalizing. This first official output by the duo has finally landed and this EP lives up to all my expectations. Across the two sides of this 12", Nicolai and Bargeld cover huge amounts of ground in a short space of time. From typical Raster-Noton electronics to songs about moles (the digging mammals rather than skin tags), this is as surprising as it is brilliant.
The title track sounds exactly as I anticipated this collaboration to sound: Nicolai’s shattered, asymmetrical beats forming a surreal stage for Bargeld to traverse. The title is interesting in itself: the author B. Traven was apparently a pseudonym for a German actor and fugitive named Ret Marut; both Bargeld and Nicolai hide behind pseudonyms and the idea of the two sides of such a personality shaking hands with itself is wonderful piece of surrealism. Bargeld’s vocals are presented in a number of ways from whispered confessions to what sounds like a loudspeaker before his trademark scream erupts. Nicolai assimilates the scream into the fabric of the music until it sounds as synthesized as the rest of its components. "Ret Marut Handshake" is immediately followed by an unlikely cover of Harry Nilsson’s "One." Here Bargeld is in full crooning mode, reminiscent of Einstürzende Neubauten songs like "Stella Maris" and "Sabrina" but even more tender. In an alternative universe, he could have made a good living from singing pop songs but Nicolai’s beautiful but non-commercial textures and beeps keep this from ever becoming a number one; this is understated and delicate which is about as far from modern pop music as you can get.
The second side of the EP sees the duo break with convention with an eclectic mix of compositions. The mutated dance floor rhythms of "Electricity is Fiction" whirl like particles in an agitated fluid, Bargeld’s lyrics bouncing off Nicolai’s beats like tiny nuclear interactions. The hyperactive piece feels like it should give way to an explosion at some point but instead it leads into "Bernsteinzimmer" which develops at a glacial pace. The sustained strings bring to mind the noir-inflected works of Manorexia or even Neubauten’s classic "The Garden." The final piece again has the duo twisting out of any convenient categorization by covering the traditional "I Wish I Was a Mole in the Ground." This song about a (formerly/currently?) imprisoned drifter wishing to escape his life by becoming the aforementioned burrowing mammal is performed in an almost jaunty way before dissolving into a sinister locked groove.
A full album of new material is mooted for later this year and based on this prelude it should be astounding. It would be easy for two such prominent artists to walk on eggshells around each other but Nicolai and Bargeld seem to be able to retain both their distinctive musical personalities without sacrificing any of the music’s integrity.
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