(May 2009) Microthol have been quiet since their 2006 album Microkosmos, but the duo of Constantin Zeileissen, and Philipp Haffner are back on TRUST with a new 12″ release: Binary Systems. So have the pair managed to maintain their edge whilst in locked away in their elector research lab?
Binary Systems opens with its namesake and a squalid pouring of vintage electro greets. The track has that cut throat Detroit feel, reminiscent of Drexiya or Dopplereffekt, as it pushes minimal analogue rushes whilst injected dehumanized vocoders. “Optical Refraction” keeps the sinister Viennese tones coming as a wall of bass introduced classic 808 beats. It soon becomes apparent that this is a work of unrelenting electro, desperate in its isolation. The pair break the track nicely with some clever synth play to give “Optical Refraction” another edge on that pared back electro sound. The kraken awakes as “Deceptive Behaviour” drops and evil analogue squalor is forced through the headphones. Tormented vocals come and fade as less industrial Ultradyne aspect comes to terrorize.
PTO and the formidable “Schwarzschild Effect” awaits. Bass beats and snare cracks over lie a deep outer space drone that morphs and twists into dark layers of synthesizer sound. Analogue lines split through as Microthol build blocks of Detroit heaviness whilst the capsule’s integrity attempts to hold up against the onslaught. Undoubtedly the most claustrophobic and psychological piece on the 12″. “Fragile” ends the first release by the Austrian duo in the past three years. The tone changes for this one. The heavy bass takes on a dubby element whilst plinks frolic in the backdrop before a solid beat drops and a piano style synth introduces itself. The track takes a side step from its motor city predecessors and seems to land in the eurozone, with vocoders and new complexity of analogue machine sound rounding the EP off nicely.
There’s a pretty big body of water, and a fair bit of land, between Detroit and Vienna; but some reason these guys get it. Microthol mirror the sinister side of Underground Resistance’s sound but make it their own, as it is their own. The disturbing simplicity of vintage synths is utilised and transformed from sinister back street shadows to astro-estranged soundscapes and beyond. Binary Systems is the reason Microthol have been off the scene for so long, they were making it.
Binary Systems is out now on TRUST.
