BERNHARD WOSTHEINRICH & NADIM HAQUE: Anentropic Potential (DDL on Iapetus)
This release from 2011 offers 73 minutes of cohesive chaos.
According to the liner notes, the music is by Wostheinrich on synthesizers and laptop, while Haque is credited with noise on microphones and laptop. The tuneage was recorded live for broadcast on Codes Traumreisen at the Dortmund radio station eldoradio in Germany in December 2010. The recording was mastered by Markus Reuter.
Here we have a fine example of fluid cohesion resulting from the union of melodic passages with a cacophony of diverse noises, one of the latter being an erratic set of rhythm tracks. The fusion exhibited in this improvised performance is remarkable--and exciting.
The electronics are quite versatile, from shrill pulsations to symphonic sweeps to bouncy oscillations to chittering tones. While many of the chords shimmer with a spectral beauty, other sounds pursue more eccentric expressions, from ardent bloops to ascendant vibrations to rapid-fire screeches.
Meanwhile those diverse noises are perfectly enhancing the flow. Whether it's scattered percussion or ilbient diodes or jangled squeals or ricocheting harps or the fast strumming of synthetic mournful banjos, these embellishments fit with grace and compliment the overall effect.
There's a constant diversity going on, as elements rise and fall, replaced by fresh tangents and enthralling weirdness. Each successive passage flourishes with inventive charisma, manifold waves emerging from the depths of each other to generate an evolving stream of often aggressive sound.
While the compositions are generally melodic (with jarring punctuations), the overall strangeness results in the music possessing an harmonic presence. The odd marriage produces a dazzling auralscape that has teeth and charm. The passages flow together with a strange elegance.
The music follows a morose progression chronicling the devolution of the world. This descent into nihilistic chaos is typified by suitably harsh tuneage. Hope and fear and will and doubt all clash. But in the end, in an exemplary percussion exhibition of victory, stability emerges as a new cycle starts to fill the void.
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