Arriving without a press release and
in a white slipcase with some illegible graffiti adorning the
cover, it took us a while to figure out who this album was by.
The mystery caused by this lack of information was highly intriguing
and gave an air of obscurity and slight-pretention. The label
code hidden behind the disc gave the game away and it was promptly
discovered that this was in fact the work of AGF aka Antye Greie
or Mrs Vladislav Delay. AGF is an electronica producer who, like
her hubby, is interested in the boundless opportunities presented
by the genre of leftfield electronica. ‘Words Are Missing’
is her fourth release following on from the 2004’s ‘Language
Is The Most’.
With ‘Words Are Missing’, AGF
has challenged the conventional use of vocals in music which has
led to the creation of soundscapes which embrace a very different
kind of vocal use. Be they fragmented, spliced, reversed, male,
female, collective, used as (sub)melody or used conventionally,
AGF has worked her electronic trickery to utilise vocals in such
a way as to demand the listeners attention, whilst adding value
to the musical landscape to which it adorns. The vocal experimentation
ranges from the hallucinatory, spliced micro-snippets found on
‘Cognitive Modules Party II‘, and ‘Ooops For
Understanding III‘ (where the vocals are elevated to lead
melody status), to the boisterous, crowd-cheer infused ‘Die
Ufer Sind In Feindes Hand‘.
Musically, AGF has produced an extremely
varied and versatile piece of experimental electronica which explores
both the necro and ambient sides of the genre; sometimes separately,
but mostly in parallel. The album is full of discordant yet harmoniously
arranged electronica which utilises industrial glitch, crackling
microbeats, dense atmospherics, errie sound-manipulations and
the aforementioned, freakily arranged-abstract vocals.
Similar in style to the electro works of
composer Lutz Glandien, AGF focuses on dark and unstable avant-soundscapes
laced with unique vocal experimentation. On ‘Food Combination
Chart‘, AGF moves through a futuristic soundscape of industrial
techno and ambient electronica by playing around with progressively
growing moodscapes which lie on a bed of rippling, sub-aqua drag-beats.
‘Where The White Animals Meet‘ see’s playful
and slightly haphazard melodic arrangements complimented by layers
of gaseous beatscapes and teasing sound manipulations which throb
with the kind of visceral energy that is lost by many of today’s
IDM producers. ‘Dread In Strangers Eyes‘ takes the
listeners on a surreal journey to hear what Pendericki might have
produced if he conducted in today’s digital era. Suffice
to say this track is a slice of avant-garde techno full of clattering
anti-sounds which lock-in to a Pan Sonic-esque groove. This air
of avant-garde eccentricity continues forth on ‘Head Inside
Cloud‘ with its airborne beats that strike out randomly
over a soundscape of haphazard keys, gaseous discharge and breathy
atmospherics.
The
dark undertone of the album comes to a head on the nightmarish
‘Presswehen‘ which sounds like the gates of hell have
been opened after a séance that has gone badly wrong. Deep
breathy vocals move into frighteningly torturous moans and yelps
on-top of a suffocating layer of audio-static and micro-skree.
Imagine Jarboe being tortured whilst Merzbow v Nordvargr’s
Partikel project spins in the background. Seriously disconcerting
and a successful experiment showcasing the all-enveloping power
that sound can possess. Although more laid-back, ‘KZ’
is another dark and exhilarating venture into the abyss. Sounding
more like the psychedelic drone-rock of Skullflower than anything
remotely electronica, AGF creates a sound which pitches ethereal
drones and subtle angelic vocal-hums against sharp outbursts of
military cluster-beats to carve out a soothing yet disconcerting
vision of a lengthy battle on the brink of failure.
Throughout the album, AGF proves to be
an expert crafter and arranger of mutant-beats, creating a dark
and foreboding aura which merges together many sub-genre’s
of electronica within an avant-garde aesthetic. The interplay
between light and dark is central to the consistency of ‘Words
Are Missing’, acting as the gel which brings all the elements
together. Ultimately, this is a varied, thought-provoking and
thumping release that deserves to be heard by all serious fans
of out-of-scope electronica. (AM)
For
fans of: Matmos, Pan Sonic, Lutz Glandien, Richard Devine
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