Hadamard :: Jupiter Cycle 1 & 2 (Last Known Trajectory)

The Jupiter Cycles are the best work of Hadamard to date. Bartelink leads the listener through automated atmospherics, phantoms of electric pulses and inside his motorized structures.

Since the summer of 2010 Last Known Trajectory has been releasing some top class Electro. The UK imprint has been exploring the work of artists like AS1 and The Exaltics whilst introducing new acts, like Glasgow’s Galaxian. For a double EP outing LKT has drafted in the Electro sculptor Janko Bartelink aka Hadamard. Bartelink has etched out some clinical analogue sounds of labels like Bunker, Transient Force, Mighty Robot Recordings and Solar One Music. For the British LKT, Hadamard serves up twenty four inches of wax.

The Jupiter Cycle Part 1: Jupiter Summanus starts Hadamard’s excursion into the synth stratosphere. An emulsion of analogue arcs and terse beats opens this Hadamard chapter. Cold electro beats with deep chords arrive for “Approach” before the sharper cutlery is unsheathed in “Entry Point.” This is the dissection of the record; one side warm lush Electronics, the other floor cutting Electro. “Outpost Jupiter” is a cerebral trek into the void, a respite before tooth and visor Electro returns with “Offerings from IO.” Hadamard serves up some DJ friendly stompers, tough Electro with full bass peppered across the 12″. “Magnetodisk” combines solid beats with some clever melodies skulking in the backdrop. “Transition to Chaos” leads out the proceedings, a sample layered piece of beatless ambience.

Hadamard’s mission to the Gas Giant isn’t over yet, with The Jupiter Cycle Part 2: Jupiter Lucetius running alongside the first launch. The brooding sounds of “Emergent Behaviour” opens this second outing. Analogue twangs penetrate the dense blackness before Electro absorption arrives with the epic “Abstract Thought.” There is a soundtrack quality running across both EP’s, mechanical detachment in Hadamard’s spatial ambience. Just as it seems Bartelink has submerged under an electrical pool of circuitry “The Ghost in the Machine” emerges. The track throws up immediate memories of D.I.E.’s “The Man You’ll Never See.” Lyrics are heavily vocodered for this pared back piece of modern electro funk. The Jupiter cycle is completed with one final sonorous expedition into the depths of Hadamard’s celestial machines.

The Jupiter Cycles are the best work of Hadamard to date. Bartelink leads the listener through automated atmospherics, phantoms of electric pulses and inside his motorized structures. Electronics and abstraction sit next functional, yet clever, Electro. With the disparity of these styles it would appear a clash is imminent; but it never comes. Instead there is only a seamless experience, bounding across lunar surfaces or scalpelling a dancefloor. Two titans from Hadamard.

Jupiter Cycle 1 & 2 is available on Last Known Trajectory. [Buy at Clone or Interstellar Sound]