Ekman & Dez Williams :: Double review (Shipwrec)

A testament to the search for innovation and experimentation.

Shipwrec’s musical compass points in no one direction. Electronica. Acid. Techno. Electro. A sea of genres, all of electronic currents of course, have been traversed. It’s to the last three of these styles that the latest dual offerings set sail. End of maritime associations!

The evil-eyed Ekman makes his return to Shipwrec with Synaptic Feedback Loops. If you’re a follower of Roel Dijcks then you’ll know you’re in for a dark ride into the underbelly of machine music. “Autapse,” the opener, pulls you into the mind of this deviant. Atmospheric bordering on aggressive the track takes form before growing into a looming beast. This is a quality across the EP. Tracks begin innocently before the mutate button is pushed and teeth, spikes and tentacles appear. 303 chords rise from the depths for the title piece. The submerged emotions of the A-Side are finally released. Crisp beats and tapered squawk giving a foreground to rich and textured tones. A rare look into the soulful shadows of an artist known for his sterner take on synthesizer music, and that sterner side is looming. “Antinomy” pulls back the sheets, revealing a stark and seething tracj. Warmth has been boiled off as a residue of cold and calculated electronics closes.

Dez Williams is up next. On the go for more than a decade this veteran of SCVI-AV is casting off on the dutch label with Sleight of Hand (very last nautical reference!). Williams’ output has been to a large extent digitally based but here with a full twelve inches of vinyl. The UK artist’s sound is soaked in musical heritage of his homeland. Cold and warm fronts battle for position with distortion bubbling to the surface to offer a bit of punch when necessary. “Reach the Void” is frost festooned, arctic and cutting. Yet the other offers are from a far more brutal place, all but “Balancing Act” which melts and reshapes itself in the mould of 90s IDM. The B-Side his where barbarism and beauty attempt to find their own equilibrium. “Death Threat” is big, bawdy and blunt whilst “Dyre Strayt” is slow and intense. Alongside “Balancing Act,” “Slave Driver” is a stand out piece. A 4/4 rhythm is unleashed as sheepish synths orbit. A refined, yet rough and ready, work to set any floor alight.

Shipwrec has near forty thirty releases, not a bad job as the six year birthday looms. But it’s quality and not quantity the old axiom says. It seems like the label has exploded in the last couple of years with a plethora of top releases by musicians who are both edgy and excellent. Dez Williams and Ekman are proof of this. The Williams release shows the dutch label’s willingness to give vinyl space to lesser known acts whilst Synaptic Feedback Loops is testament to the search for innovation and experimentation.

Both releases are available on Shipwrec.