Tommy Four Seven _ Monad XIII _ [SAM013]
I can still recall the first time I heard Tommy Four Seven’s Primate album and the rather unsettling sonic promontories his music conjured up in me – the rash inducing sensation brought on by virtue of the producer’s sumptuously distorted kick drums, that feeling that somewhere in a car manufacturing plant, a robot arm is suddenly dropping the chassis of a car it’s supposed to be assembling, only to clutch at the neck of the nearest cruel and merciless human overlord before squeezing for everything it’s worth.
Fortunately for fans of grating, industrial Techno, the rather uncompromising sound that T47 has been cultivating as his own rings through in his latest release and the latest addition to Stroboscopic Artefacts Monad series. With Monad XIII, T47 brings us, rather unnervingly, into the kind of territory where dark, unutterable secrets appear before your eyes suddenly, yet go unquestioned, not having the words to articulate what you’re feeling in the dark light of this sinister precinct. Listening to the EP reminds this reviewer of being at the afters of a family wedding as a child and mother warns you about spending any time with the creepy uncle scratching himself in a dark corner of the hall. At once, the listener finds herself both disgusted and intrigued.
Enki starts off the release with a slow, conveyor belt rhythm, one possibly running through a R&D facility in the factories of Hell’s Labs.
There’s definitely something up with the second track, Arx, and it sounds like you’re going on the prowl for someone to assault in a labyrinthine maze of dark corridors and dripping pipes.
Monix has that feeling of a memory to it, a sensation, possibly elucidated by the expansive reverb against which the muscular kicks make such a nauseating pronunciation in your unsettled stomach.
Vayu comes on with the sedating, menacing effect of an overwhelming barbiturate, one that induces strange dreams and violent nightmares in the listener, the sense that to travel too far is to step beyond the edge of the precipice. The sound reminds this reviewer of a plane, traveling at high speeds through a jagged mountain range. The horror of flying at such speeds, however, is experienced at an agonising crawl, almost to the point that it becomes excruciating. A broad, discursive – and most importantly, terrifying – experience.
In all, the EP rings through with the distinct aural ethos underpinning releases in the Monad series and if you’re one of those people who actively enjoys music that makes your skin crawl, while still maintaining the kind of heightened energy that one would expect from a fantastic techno production, then you’ll probably want to add this release to your collection.
Not for the faint-hearted.
Monad XIII is available from 23rd August.
http://www.stroboscopicartefacts.com/shop/product/monad-xiii-sam013/
