SPLIT SERIES #22

Another top quality, album-length release, the twenty-second issue in FatCat's ?long-running and highly-acclaimed Split 12 Series features two artists who use the ?record deck as a focal point of their craft, each approaching it in very different ways and ?to markedly different effect. ?Active since 2009, The ?Durian Brothers are a trio ?based in Dusseldorf, ?Germany. In a praxis that ?mixes structured ?composition with playful ?improvisation, one ?member knits things ?together with the use of a ?sequencer, while two ?others each get hands-on ?with a pair of 'prepared' ?turntables, alongside ?mixers and various effects. ?Completely avoiding the ?use of records, the ?machines are instead ?creatively mis-used in a very ?experimental approach. Melodies are played on tuned rubber bands stretched across the ?decks; assorted objects are placed on the rotating platters to create scrunching rhythms ?and textures. What results is a radical and fresh take on contemporary club music. ?Slightly wonky and somehow African in its non-standard feel / tonality, it sounds like little ?else around right now. ?While they have one foot in the art camp, The Durian Brothers art is aimed squarely at the ?dance'oor and at bodily interaction. Where their material is sharply focused, driven and ?direct, Ensemble Skalectrik's (aka Nick 'Ekoplekz' Edwards) side is a far woozier and less ?utilitarian proposition, occupying a more cloudy, veiled, interior space that seems ?deliciously derailed and disconnected. Bathed in reverb and shifting EQ, its murky ?sound-world cocoons the listener in a delirious fog of warping material - slurred, molten, ?smeared and blurred, its signals ripple around the listener as though transmitted through ?some viscous liquid.?Exploring turntable improvisation in tandem with loops and FX pedals, his is a highly ?personalized take that incorporates elements of chance, drone, dub, hauntology, musique ?concrete and free improvisation. Chopped and merged together out of fragments of old ?vinyl (mainly sound effects and easy listening albums, Stereo test recordings), expanded ?through a selection of sound-shaping devices ('lters, equalizers, loop-pedals), the four ?home-recorded tracks here are an impressive follow-up to 'Trainwrekz', Ensemble ??TRACKLISTING?1. The Durian Brothers - Staatsqualle?2. The Durian Brothers - Angstbrine?3. The Durian Brothers - Unteridisch?4. Ensemble Skalectrik - Outer Phase?5. Ensemble Skalectrik - Pharos Groove?6. Ensemble Skalectrik - Powertranz?7. Ensemble Skalectrik - Winslow