EXS / The Exaltics :: Double review (Solar One / Shipwrec)

I keep thinking that the level of quality, the breadth of variety and the expert execution can’t continue; that there has to be chink in The Exaltics analogue armor. But time and time again this Jena man delivers brilliance.

It is becoming difficult to keep up with the productivity of The Exaltics. The Jena based artist is in the midst of what looks to be his most productive year. After debuting on Clone with two cracking EPs Robert Witschakowski is set for two consecutive releases, one on his own Solar One Music and the second on The Netherlands Shipwrec.

The EXS moniker is showcased for the third, although first, installment of the Crystal Issue Cycle series. This is the second time the EXS name has been used, the first time being for Solar One’s Unhoerbar sub-label. The Unhoerbar release was a much more Techno affair, and These Days continues in the same line. The title track gets the ball rolling. Cold, skeletal, bars are unveiled, a captivating beat pattern pushing the track. Smoothness dominates this single sided offering. The jagged edges that Witschakowski loves to play with as The Exaltics are pared down, the rougher side being sanded of for a softer finish. “K.I.L.Y.” is the epitome of this evened out sound. Melodies ghost behind loops of wavering string, bass supporting the billowing smoke.

Twelve is on the other side of the spectrum with four cuts making it to the Shipwrec camp. In the last few years Witschakowski has been layering his sound with Acid rumblings, the 303 scream coming to the fore for “The New Beginning.” Lush, subtle chords are contrasted by a hail of squawk. Crisp beats cut through this storm, beautiful calms and warming winds standing aside fearsome electric currents. “Corroded” is much harsher affair, as the name might suggest. Hope is compressed, oscillator dials flail as a wrenching piece of black eyed anger will see walls melt. Some of those mellower lines from These Days are present, but they are engulfed by bitter machine tweaks; none more so than the Industrial rage of “Downwards.” Engines roar, pistons hammer and wires boils in this mechanical man eater. If that weren’t enough, the legendary forefathers of derelict dockyard Acid aggression are on hand. Jan Duivenvoorden was a member of Unit Moebius and has kept the group’s spirit alive as Unit Moebius Anonymous. A festering, putrid and moreish remix of “Downwards” is the finale, Duivenvoorden taking the primal power of the original and turning it in on itself.

I’ve discussed Robert Witschakowski a number of times already this year, and I have no doubt I’ll discuss The Exaltics again. I keep thinking that the level of quality, the breadth of variety and the expert execution can’t continue; that there has to be chink in The Exaltics analogue armor. But time and time again this Jena man delivers brilliance. 2014, dare I say the year of…

These Days and Twelve are both available on Solar One and Shipwrec, respectively.