Characterized as “10 tracks of technoblues,” Oizys, the album, follows very much in the vein of the previous Shrapnel, a lowlight minimal variant redolent of early ’00s Berlin-inflected dub-tech/tech-dub releases.
10 tracks of technoblues
Classical scholars among you will doubtless be familiar with Oizys, goddess of anxiety and despair, emotions classicists and philistines alike may feel channeled through the eponymous album by korrē (aka Korre Jefferson) on Pittsburgh’s Perimeter Junk, the label curated by Paul Fleetwood. Characterized as “10 tracks of technoblues,” Oizys, the album, is very much in the vein of the previous Shrapnel, a lowlight minimal variant redolent of early ’00s Berlin-inflected dub-tech/tech-dub releases from such as Alka, Veer, I.A. Bericochea, even Gys (Art D’echo, anyone?) at the dubbier end, and other likemind artists/releases on turn-of-millenium, largely Euro, microhouse and minimal techno labels like Force Inc., Resopal Schallware, Source and M_nus.
Of korrē, the artist qua human, there’s little out there by way of background, a few salient tidbits being retrievable from a judicious web-trawl: release of Cathexis Sessions Vol.1, debut EP for Utrecht’s 030303 Records, is accompanied by reference to inspiration from author James Baldwin, and experience of being a black man in the US being integral to his work, even if largely instrumental. Says korrē “I always make sure my music has elements of pain, beauty, and darkness,” and these are certainly felt across the course of the album. The atmo-tone is set by opener “Xf” compounded by a blackened title track, interspersed with “Ravine” and “Sunset Hannaford” feeding forward with enhanced 4/4 kinesis, deep dystopian slabs tooled for a corner of the floor, albeit a darker one, as much as for home head cinema.
The listener is drawn in by a certain doleful intensity, as on “Skunk Dog”—all heartbeat bass prods and tenebrous depths, replete with spectral samples, run through with washed out half-sonorities. A mood change comes, albeit barely turned towards half-light, with the expansive “Omens (Poet’s Walk),” a more lyrical tract of Burial-esque spatial ambience, before it’s back to a hard floor with the paranoid acid-tech-inflections of “Changes.” More follows, but this 3-track centerpiece is an impressive exhibit of the range and artful variation of Oizys within its narrow genre and atmospheric parameters.
If ears are piqued, and can’t get enough of Oizys, the recent Oizys (remixed) features re-imaginings by Steven Dermody (with Fleetwood), Rico Casazza, Gautham Garg (with Fleetwood), Ben Worden, Richard Holhburn, and Maro Kariya.
Oizys and Oizys (remixed) are both available on Perimeter Junk.
