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Spacemusic is largely an untamed art. Despite the logical and technical rigor this music may appear to display, it truly belongs to a sub-planetary religion. So consumed are the zealots within this temple of tech; were an inquisitive outsider to ask about changing chords, the reply would most certainly refer to something measuring either three, six or twelve feet in length. The album Night on Ouddorp (48'10") was made by four men of this realm. Specializing so in the technica of Electronic Music, when Jörg Erren, Bert Fleissig, Jochen Schöttler and Christian Steffen get a tingle from their music they immediately check for a faulty ground wire connection. Night on Ouddorp was realized out of the third of this quartet's annual week-long getaways - which combines under one roof a series of loose jam sessions and gear tweaking with serious arrangement and compositional collaborations. EFSS's intellect works under the forward-looking theme of sound innovation, but their retrograde hearts belong to the Berlin-School. Track after track assails us with bouncing electrified notes echoing in rows of repeating arpeggio patterns. So steeped in machinery is this work that while listening we can almost see the blinking lights, dials, buttons, switches and patch cords of this outfit's rig. Monsters are always hungry, and the sequencer patterns on Night on Ouddorp pump out a soundtrack fit for the chase. With burning foreheads EFSS produce heroic electronic pulsations borne on blood soaked dissonance. While some of the first six titles generate a stable mood and energy, others are given enough juice to dim the lights and have the late night listener looking over their shoulder. Thankfully, the tastefully administered glittering modulated effects and synthetic melodic leads manage to offer humanity and warmth to counter the otherwise mechanical mathematical vibe of this crisp production. The last of these seven works quietly murmurs in a mysterious dark downward dirge, and brings us to the borders of sleep - that unfathomable deep where all must lose their way. True, we may lose our way somewhere in Night on Ouddorp, but never our selves. The ideas found within this genre have a life outside of it - if only known of by the initiated few. What a better world it would be were it populated with more individuals such as Erren, Fleissig, Schöttler and Steffen - people who carry with them in their hearts and minds the secret forces of this music.
- Chuck van Zyl/STAR'S END 23 October 2014 |
