OBERMAN KNOCKS
Beatcroff Slabs
AP004
Aperture Records 2012
16 Tracks. 68mins40secs

Amazon UK: CD US: CD Boomkat: CD

Oberman Knocks is the project of London-based musician Nigel Truswell. Although he relocated to London in the late eighties, Truswell’s work as Oberman Knocks owes much to the rich musical heritage of his birthplace, Sheffield, home of Cabaret Voltaire, Human League, Heaven 17, ABC to Pulp, Warp or The Black Dog, who still operate from there today, to name but a few. Following a chance encounter with Andrea Parker via Mira Calix’s Chantal Passamonte, Truswell released his debut album, 13th Smallest, on Parker’s burgeoning new imprint, Aperture, three years ago. Dark, intricate and post industrial, the album was an incredibly intense journey through dystopian landscapes.

Three years on, the intensity has increased drastically. Continue Reading »

Three years ago, the first album on Andrea Parker’s new venture, Aperture Records was published. The work of Sheffield-born Nigel Truswell, released under the enigmatic name of Oberman Knocks, 13th Smallest was a particularly dense and abstract electronic record, sounding somewhat like a malfunctioning machine. With his second album ready to be released, once again on Aperture, we caught up with the man to talk about his formative years, rubbing shoulders with Autechre, Mira Calix and Andrea Parker, learning to get to grip about the technology he uses and the prospects of a collaboration which may take him onto a very different path. Continue Reading »

Twelve months compiled into just twenty albums. From the thousands of records released each year, it is difficult to get even a handful on the site, and even more difficult to decide which ones were the best of the lot. This is however the twenty albums that have marked 2009 for themilkfactory.

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OBERMAN KNOCKS
13th Smallest
AP001
Aperture Records 2009
10 Tracks. 47mins45secs

Like an ice-cold Autechre starved of natural light and oxygen, Oberman Knocks dispenses incredibly dense and suffocating soundscapes, where sounds are shredded and pulverised, beats constantly falter or freeze in mid-loop and occasional shards of human voice get caught in the complex set of mechanical cogs that maintain this machine alive.

Released on Andrea Parker’s new Aperture imprint, set up to release conceptual experimental works, 13th Smallest is the debut album from Sheffield-born, south-London-based Nigel Truswell, who has previously recorded as Alkin Engineering and WG Machines and released music on Static Caravan, Unlabel and October Man Recordings amongst others. Continue Reading »