MACHINEFABRIEK
Duotoon
MF012
Machinefabriek 2010
01 Tracks. 19mins19secs

Boomkat: CD | DLD Norman Records: CD

Machinefabriek’s Rutger Zuydervelt must be the single most prolific musicians active currently. That one man can produce such a considerable amount of original music for solo projects and collaboration, either published on labels as diverse as 12K, Lampse, Low Point, Fang Bomb or Type to name but a few, or self-released, as well as countless remixes, is totally beyond belief. His latest offering comes in the shape of Duotoon, a very limited release featuring just one nineteen-minute piece.

Here, Zuydervelt strips his sound bare of any textural feature, crackles or glitches, and abandons guitars and electronics to work with simple tones, which are placed in relation to each other and layered to create strange harmonies. This is, in Zuydervelt’s own admission, ‘an attempt at purifying the Machinefabriek sound’. The result is particularly absorbing. In the absence of familiar harmonics or identifiable sound sources, what Zuydervelt is left with are bare sine waves. In such a desolate setting, the minutest changes in a tone’s intensity, hue or appearance takes on a disproportionate importance. And it is precisely these changes which give substance to this piece. In appearance, Duotoon is a cold monolithic mass, but in closer inspection, patterns, albeit loose, materialise and disappear, at times almost instantly, fluctuations in density create subtle nuances in the sonic aspect of the piece and establish a slow yet constant flow throughout.

These may be extremely basic sound forms, the sonic equivalent of the simplest life forms, with no texture or emotional current, but in Zuydervelt’s hands, they are brought to life in very effective ways. Whether this will filter down into the textured Machinefabriek framework remains to be seen, but as a standalone piece, Duotoon provides a space for a micro-tonal universe which would otherwise go totally unnoticed.

4.2/5

Machinefabriek
Boomkat: CD | DLD Norman Records: CD