The ninth release of katharsis is the EP “Journey Before Destination” by @jjjacob, which is the first full release of the label founder on his own label. The EP spans six tracks and is quite a deviation in sound from his earlier releases on labels such as ANBA, high heal and Sweat Taste. Taking a step away from his usual tools of heavily automated synths and complex midi-based melodies, this EP focuses closely on recordings of acoustic instruments and vocals done by jjjacob himself throughout the pandemic year.

Journey Before Destination

Oneiric Plateau

Don't Postpone Joy

Art by H+ Ricky & HÄLÖ

@threalterroriste

s.M.i.L.e. Radio 055 : H+ Ricky

Artist: @fausto_mercier / @trngs
Catalogue Number: IM091
Album: I'm Too Sentient
Release Date: June 25th, 2021
Format: Digital

Stepping in as a musical match-maker, Infinite Machine has paired up Fausto Mercier & trngs, two boundary-pushing sound designers, for a fresh EP of kinetic and visceral electronics. The pair are well suited to be partners in crime on I'm Too Sentient: both share a meticulously detailed approach to sculpting sounds as well as a keen interest in producing a sonic ‘uncanny valley’ in their output - manipulating organic sounds until their source is barely recognisable.

Fausto Mercier opens up I'm Too Sentient with Overcorp, a dramatic opener which only seems to get more frantic over time. Unfolding like an algorithmic Fibonacci spiral, Fausto’s musical ideas seem to shrink and appear within each other like fractal patterns. Towards the end of the track, the low-end drops out and is replaced by moody pad synths, an uneasy palette cleanser that glides over fidgety samples that refuse to sit still.

Next up, Bite Nails II Assert Dominance is another cerebral hit of complex, polyrhythmic laptop music. The beginning of this track seems far more ‘on-grid’ than Overcorp, but we are lulled into a false sense of security by Fausto who starts nudging samples into unexpected phrasings or squeezing new sounds into inexplicably small gaps within his drum programming. A real head-spinner of a tune!

Fausto’s final offering from the split, O O Doomscrll is potentially the most frantic moment of I'm Too Sentient. Humanoid-esque synths seem to wail through the arrangement, backed up by a punishing delivery of drum hits and manipulated organic sounds. As the title seems to suggest, O O Doomscrll could almost be considered as a soundtrack for our age of digital disorientation and social anxiety.

trngs opens up his half of the split EP with Organic Fabrication Core, a sonic headfuck if ever there was one. Jammed full of ideas and operating at break-neck speeds, trngs background in improvisational free jazz definitely comes to prominence in tracks like these.

Next up, trngs keeps the tempos fast with I'm Too Sentient For My Own Wellbeing - a track which sounds a bit like if Mark Fell had a breakcore side project. Musical stutters and iterative loops are abruptly swapped out for aggy kick drums which cut through the mix like a knife. The name of this song, again, nods to our accelerated virtual culture and the pressures that our contemporary information-overload can exert on us.

Rounding off the split, trngs’ () %%% () is a curious experiment across multiple temporalities and textures. Starting off serene and calm, the production degrades and glitches-out like an alien fungi permeating an ambient music culture.

An enthralling exploration of modern laptop musicianship, I'm Too Sentient is probably unlike anything you will hear this year. We suggest you press play and hold on tight.

Artwork by trngs

Fausto Mercier - O O Doomscrll

2020-2021
full album: https://formforum.bandcamp.com/album/until-some-process-takes-care-of-me
[ff26]

deskulling - Until Some Process Takes Care of Me

City & i.o - Chaos is God Neighbour [APP005]

01. Desolate Revenant (06:39)
02. Breach (06:27)
03. Omnistack (06:23)
04. Catacomb (05:38) [with Dis Fig]
05. Descendant Cross (05:28)[with x/o]
06. Bleak Chain (05:13) [with x/o]
07. Unkind (04:44) [with Dis Fig]
08. Bomb-blasted Stack (03:52) [with vvilms]
09. Atlatica (03:24)
10. Circling Orc (03:07)
11. Temprorare (02:22)
12. Marrow (02:20)
13. -20+20-20+20-20+20-20 (02:10)
14. Granular Heater (01:34)

Total running time: (59:59)

City & i.o are:
AW — Audio engineering, synth
FC — Vocals, accordion
MP — Drums, guitar, sampler
VX — Vocals, strings
WB — Guitar, synths, piano

Tracks 4 & 7 written by Dis Fig
Track 5 & 6 written by x/o, City & i.o
All lyrics written by the vocalists
Additional production on track 5 by Aaron Wharton
Track 8 features an extensive sample of an untitled piece by vvilms

Artwork by John Blanche
Additional artwork, design, and Tortured Cybernetic Abomination logo by Jesse Osborne-Lanthier
Sigil by Julian Butterfield
Mastered by Aaron Wharton

City & i.o are from British Columbia, Canada.

Chaos Is God Neighbour

City & i.o - Omnistack

Rerelease of the 2016 legendary album and collaboration project by Cybernetika & Xenofish, Cryomatter.

Full mix: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qlio0WBGF0
Artists: @cryomatter @xenofish @cybernetika
Download this track: https://hypeddit.com/vm1ulj
Support: https://synapticgrid.bandcamp.com/album/cryomatter-cryomatter

Cryomatter - Azure Particles [Free Download]

another holiday spirit ambient fuzz flip. prob sounds best in 🎧
attempting to do "sonic meditations" with these last few tracks, gonna keep them up the rest of the month when I can. 🪴

i will wait

born in red enamel

@jjjacob
"A mythology of bewinged souls, protecting and defending our realms.
Archangels falling as freezing rain, in their struggles with themselves.
Saving the soul from sin and fear, cleansing away your inner disgusts.
Your spirit is ripe for the second coming, tribulation is close at hand.
The Deluge is coming and who will be saved, what becomes of Angelic Hostility."

Artwork by jjjacob
Mastering by Lorenzo Targhetta

deskulling - Until Some Process Takes Care of Me

formforum

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