Altered:Carbon :: Questasian (Mitoma Industries)

Re-mastered with additional remixes, both Andy Paterson and Tam Ferrans collectively create an ambiguous flow of de-constructed electronic hip-hop that permeates within early-era Merck, Chocolate Industries, Skam and Schematic Music Company soil.

[Release page] Questasian collates Altered:Carbon‘s extraneous tracks that drifted between Section 27‘s 2010 release of Altered:Carbon and the Hilander joint effort with Kendall WA. Now re-mastered with additional remixes, both Andy Paterson and Tam Ferrans collectively create an ambiguous flow of de-constructed electronic hip-hop that permeates within early-era Merck, Chocolate Industries, Skam and Schematic Music Company soil. Fluid mixtures of subdued melodies percolate amongst crunchy percussive fragments often in the two to three-minute range (“Reptilian” is a fine example). But it isn’t until the duo sift through the outtakes even further that the cohesive gems are born.

“Vine” passes the five-minute mark and eschews solemn, melancholic iterations of classic IDM and an emotional tugging of the heart-strings. “Escape” reaches for a four-minute maturation as it meanders through broken beats and a slow-motion pulse of Warp Records’ Artificial Intelligence-era ambience. “Nebulae” dissolves any preconceived notions that Questasian might hover into oblivion—it delivers a parallel universe that Access To Arasaka would inhabit. Emotional, moody, dark and glitched, “Nebulae” really is the birthplace of a sonic star. Snuggled in a swirling maze of atmosphere, gravity, spatial debris and a kaleidoscope of color, this piece gracefully takes shape as its life-support pulse fades away.

Questasian breathes life into the tethered fabric of electronic music’s past and refreshes itself for a new generation of enthusiasts to absorb. Fans of early Gescom, Autechre, Machinedrum and Push Button Objects should take note.

Questasian is available on Mitoma Industries. [Release page]