Dark tones that glimmer with a cold and fiery spark.
To date Femur has been plumbing the depths of the mechanical, journeying deep into the machinery of electronics, the clank of the factory floor and the rattle of chain. One artist who dug deep into belts, gears and pistons was Rafael Martinez Espinosa, under his Geistform moniker he offered the brutally bold Señales last year. The Spanish artist returns twelve months on, this time returning to his Univac alias.
A chill wind runs through the opening “Kobol,” an ashen cloud hovering over the wintery keys and distant drums. “Base1018acdbss” is cut from a similarly cold cloth. Basslines bubble below freezing point as Espinosa freezes his compositions with arctic blasts and chemical compounds. The exceptions the ice clad funk of “Baikonur” and “Syncotron u70”, two menacing cuts of electro with incising snares and feedback minced melodies. Despite these Siberian elements adopted, track temperatures begin to rise and sounds begin to thaw as the mini LP progresses. “AreUThere” maintains the piercing rhythm patterns of its siblings while allowing warmer notes to rumble above the permafrost. Spring arrives with the lush “Unit 4.” Perhaps a tribute to the work of Michael Künzer and Ralf Beck who released as Unit 4 back in the early 2000s, the track is a glitched immersion of chiptune motifs and misted notes and illustrates a totally different side of Univac.
That steely grit, the smelted synthlines and raw ore of Epinoza’s past productions is clear to hear in Futuro Perfecto. However, the Spaniard has sheathed some of his more serrated edges, allowing another side to shine. Dark tones that glimmer with a cold and fiery spark.
Futuro Perfecto is available on Femur. [Shop]
