This is electro that knows the past but isn’t restricted by it, a release that tells of a cold future that might lack warmth but doesn’t lack bite.
A soundtrack of a coming age
Digitizer is not a household name of electro. To date, Christian Askvig has mostly appeared on compilations, such as Fundamental Records’ 808 box collections, with a smattering of digital only releases including an album in 2010. More than twelve years on, the Norwegian is finally returning and, for the first time ever, will be appearing on the shelves of your local record shop with Future Technology on Leipzig’s Pulse Drift.
Dark and sci-fi steeped, “Circuit Breaker” opens. Orbiting lines are pinpricked with incising percussion as a throbbing acid bassline descends to bring a palpable gravity to the piece. “Data Mining” follows. Squirming and wriggling bars bend and flex under increasing levels of stress as kilo after kilo of audio pressure is applied. At the record’s metallic core is a focus on technology. This is plain to hear across the quintet and even easier to see in the track titles. Rhythms are tempered by a frigid melody in “Machine Learning,” a work of breaks and blasts of deep space resonancce. The flip is introduced by samples, a human touch on a 12” where electronic beings reign supreme. Thick molten lines are laced with skeletal beats in a definite dancefloor favourite. Temperatures rise with “Computer Age.” Chords billow and echo against crisp drum patterns with layered pads and a wistful tone bringing this vinyl debut to a close.
Future Technology is a soundtrack of a coming age, or perhaps we are there. The machine is ever present and refuses to relinquish center stage. This is electro that knows the past but isn’t restricted by it, a release that tells of a cold future that might lack warmth but doesn’t lack bite.
Future Technology is available on Pulse Drift. [Soundcloud]
