As Badun boggles the ears with devolving escapades of modulated electro architecture, there’s a persistent experimental edge that keeps this project intact and engaging.
Though s.o.t.s was released in 2012—a split release between Schematic and John Sparking—Badun emits a timeless electronic foray that doesn’t wear itself out. The persistent tangled sound design, fragmented clips and penchant for deformed electro shapes continues to baffle the brain with intoxicating subterranean bass escapes. s.o.t.s being their third official full-length, there are many brooding rhythms yet to explore as Badun takes experimental tones, pulses and drones into new terrain.
The A-side’s opening track—titled “Kætø (ようこそ)”—includes loosened glitch shards and sonic emulsion as “Fradig James” reveals a slow-motion processing of Archive-era RD (The Designed Disorder, 2007)—its sliced electro contortions fall apart into particulate matter immersed in atmospheric detail. Closing up the A-side with “New Holme Ejj90,” an eerie post-apocalyptic groove slithers around the audio spectrum in true Gescom-style. Flipping to the B-side, Badun continues in their quest for harmonic dismantling. “Sound off the smoke” is an apt title for soundtracks to lost worlds—various synth noises propel themselves as they echo Morton Subotnick’s Silver Apples of the Moon. “Rebef boj” is perhaps the most direct and coherent dark-electro formation, loose droning backdrops and a moody rhythmic sputter fills the landscape. “Glry studio (v.japan)” revolves around fluid pulsing clicks’n cuts, slippery percussion and a shivering aquatic layering. “I can not remember my funk school” is an emerging evolution of dynamic bass filled with grit and fluttering synthesizers gone astray. s.o.t.s is an enlightening and dramatic listening experience.
As Badun boggles the ears with devolving escapades of modulated electro architecture, there’s a persistent experimental edge that keeps this project intact and engaging. Recalling the aforementioned artists (Morton Subotnick, Gescom, RD) and snippets of Phoenecia and Ben Milstein, s.o.t.s eschews its own particular gravity while complimenting the past.
s.o.t.s is available on Schematic / John Sparking. [Release page]
