First things first: these are unequivocally techno albums.
That's not to say you won't find spiralling melodies
in the basslines or a powerful musicality to the dissipating
chords that hang over the rhythms, but if your prime
desire in a piece of music is a tune you can whistle,
or if you have an aversion to repetition or prominent
kickdrums then it's not going to win you over.
Sutekh, aka Seth Joshua Horvitz, is part of a group
of Californian electronic musicians who were particularly
prominent in the rise of glitched electronica in the
late nineties and early this decade. While other Californians
like Kid 606, Lesser, Blectum From Blechdom specialised
in a smashed-up, confrontational noisecore style, Sutekh
and his compadres Safety Scissors, Kit Clayton and Twerk
marshalled the same techniques of microsampling and
fragmentation of sound using the latest audio-processing
software in the service of more traditionally dancefloor-oriented
styles, combining the funk and syncopation of house
and garage with the velocity and propulsion of classic
techno and the snap and crackle of the new glitchy sounds.
Alongside the influence of electronic artists as diverse
as Herbert, Pan Sonic
and Fennesz, this
Californian glitch-funk has inspired a warm, crackling
mutant strain of house/techno which is proving still
to be a enduring staple of underground clubbing worldwide.
These twin collections of Sutekh's remix work over the
past six years are a perfect illustration of the range
and limitations of this sound. Both of these collections
span Horvitz's work, chronologically and stylistically.
Some tracks, like his mixes of Salvo Beta, Twerk and
Dapayk tunes, are truly relentless techno, rushing along
on the simplest harsh, rattling percussion motifs with
ebbing and flowing structures; these are particularly
reminiscent of Richie
Hawtin's big club tunes released in his Plastikman
guise. Others, like his take on Alva Noto's Deuterotype
or Stewart Walker's Stabiles are gentle and
spacious, with soft round kickdrum sounds bouncing along
under reverberating sustained chords; this type of track
is mainly found on the second volume, and makes for
as good listening alone in the small hours as it does
in the heat of a club. The tracks that are the biggest
‘fun’ have an eighties electro influence:
the remixes of Murcof
and Wobbly on volume one have a hyperactive sense of
funk about them, sharp drum machine sounds pinging around
with tiny snippets of sampled sound to create eminently
danceable rhythms underpinned by big, friendly sub-bass
which seductively nudges you towards turning up the
volume knob. Finally there are the few tracks which
abandon the techno straitjacket completely; the dates
on these suggest that this may be something which Horvitz
increasingly wants to do. The two tracks from 2005 which
open and close the vinyl version of volume one are a
beautiful ambient piece - adding electronic arpeggios
and enveloping sound effects to the jazzy torch song
of Norwegian Hanne Hukkelberg - and an absolutely demented
mangling of childrens' music, poetry, distorted orchestras,
industrial electro and p-funk in the remix of Lawrence
Weiner's Big Bang / New Flora. Though the fantastically
intuitive structuring of Sutekh's pieces creates real
emotional tension and release and makes any given track
eminently listenable above and beyond its function on
the dancefloor, an entire double album of more or less
techno-paced tracks is not always easy to take in one
sitting - so volume one, with its greater variation
and cheeky surprises makes for a more coherent work,
and bodes well for future Sutekh artist albums. Both
volumes, though, are filled with classy, energising
music which should cheer anyone who suspected that techno
had lost its musicality and become nothing more than
a background noise for drug-monkeys.
Joe Muggs
Vol. 1: 4/5 Vol.2: 3.6/5 |
