The Leipzig artist employs cold mechanics and strips back decoration and elaboration while at the same time he destabilizes, playing with new tones and textures to produce an EP that is quite unique.
Between 2009 and 2014 Headnoaks, aka Markus Leeman, put out a veritable feast of material. Digital releases spilled from his own label as the Leipzig artist was picked up for physical releases on Transient Force, AC Records as well as the short-lived RedBlack. Since then there has been more of less radio silence from Leeman with his Soundcloud page becoming his main source of musical communique. 2018 marks the return to wax of a talent deserving a wider audience.
The first stop is “The Gas Station.” Aquatic and submerged, this opener is a claustrophobic cross between piercing percussion and placid pulses. “Spherical Harmonics” is a minimal affair. Behind skeletal drums is a similarly stark set of synthlines. Headnoaks had touches of electronica in his past compositions and that same seam has found its way into Illumination – Spirited City. Yet, it is not electronica of a complex of glitched brand, instead off-centre harmonies and lopsided notes are the tools. “Multipole Expansion” and “Inorganic Carpentry” are a strange blend. Both tracks have classical aspects of electro, tight rhythmic patterns with ruffled bass lines and a funk edge, while each adopt their own more experimental angle that sits well outside expectations. “Voice of Dissent” is cut from the same cloth. A lonesome beat races past echoes of glass and steel as a cerebral work of sci-fi inspiration unfolds.
Electro is arguably the most difficult of genres in which an artist can experiment. The sound is rich and varied but it also adheres to almost haiku stringent rules. Headnoaks tests the boundaries of the style. The Leipzig artist employs cold mechanics and strips back decoration and elaboration while at the same time he destabilizes, playing with new tones and textures to produce an EP that is quite unique.
Illumination – Spirited City is available on Possblthings.
