"The Meat in the Street" and thehideously-titled "The National Republic of Harelip" feature the rapid,rolling stop-start rhythms that are usually associated with so-calledIDM, but in this environment they work well to heighten the tensioncreated by layers of atmospheric synths and brooding melodies. Thismusic seems more the work of a singular vision than most melodicelectronic music, bearing evidence of human hands through the emotionalresonance of tracks like "Letter Puncture PNX Pass" and "Johnny 123.""Johnny" features irregular rhythms escaping all over the stereo field,yet is grounded by a bed of plaintive, melodic synthesizer tones andstrange vocal samples. The cut-up whispered vocals on "The Coal MineWorker" give the track a sense of pending doom that is heightened bythe eerie, claustrophobic ambience of the music. Other tracks, such as"Not Down That Alley," "Slave News," and "17 Fidelity Guards" arebeatless and evoke apocalyptic visions through introspectivesynthesizer washes. These relatively sedate pieces offer contrast tothe hectic beat programming featured on many of the other tracks, yetretain a connection to the whole by evoking a similar atmosphere ofdesolation. This contrast is one of the strengths of the album, andsaves it from being a dull collection of tracks that each pit beatsversus ambience. "Bleak Purple" is by far the noisiest track here, withshort bursts of digital detritus weaving in and out of skittery beatsthat vary from the quiet pitter-patter variety to full-on industrialstomp. The dub-inflected techno rhythms and keyboard stabs of"Lockerbroom Rumble" would sound derivative of Pole and the BasicChannel crew were they not combined with waves of sharp static andplaced within the context of the rest of these tracks. Although Nodernwas recorded in Venice, London, and Johannesburg, it doesn't sound asif it was pieced together from various sessions over a period of threeyears. None of these cities come to mind when hearing the album, asNodern has successfully created a work that is borne of his ownuniverse.samples:
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