Music like this makes the difference between production and artistic creation clear: in this sense, the generative substrate underlying these tracks is a starting point, a bedrock of naturally occurring variation that nnirror cherry-picks and spotlights with arrangements pushing the limits of complexity.
Like an ice crystal multiplying its needles
I first heard nnirror’s destory [sic] during Evel’s album release stream. I joined late after wrapping up work in a rush and was thrown right into the last portion of “chemic travers f8 [al]”—a chaotic accumulation of lead melodies, arpeggios, electric bouncy synths and breakneck beats, giving way at the end to a beatific soundscape, shimmering with blissed out particles. Even when the following track started, with a new mixture of intense sound design and splintering tunes, the album title didn’t quite feel right. This specific chaos wasn’t violent: the music felt so quintessentially creative that grouping it under an imperative to destroy did not make sense to me.
In reality, though, this album has its source in story, and departs from it, or undoes it to leave behind whatever usual narrative you might have on aggressive electronic music. I had of course misread the title—just like any autocorrect will try to pin destruction to the album every time I recommend it to someone. As if technology was trying to sabotage an idea of music that is genuinely natural.
Organisms unburdened by reason ::
The biological or natural metaphor is massively overused to talk about experimental electronics, but in this case it’s justified by the structures, layering, and concepts bringing the tracklist to life. “koch snowflake” recalls the titular fractal in its incessant gemmation of a phrase becoming more and more detailed at each iteration, like an ice crystal multiplying its needles until they’re impossible to distinguish by the eye. Likewise, “holdfast” shows melodic and rhythmic elements cohabiting the same space without trying to fight each other off: a pure melody emerges in between shape-shifting beats, as the two hold onto each other without any damage or leeching—a solution that organisms unburdened by reason will find more often than humans. destory closes with “purpleteddy64 [160BPM heartfuq mix]” (previously included in Tokinogake’s Teknogake compilation)—a celebratory rave which is sure to move one’s limbs and heartstrings in a few directions.
Music like this makes the difference between production and artistic creation clear: in this sense, the generative substrate underlying these tracks is a starting point, a bedrock of naturally occurring variation that nnirror cherry-picks and spotlights with arrangements pushing the limits of complexity. Each track is not a machine mechanism working towards a goal, but its own ecosystem just being, where each tiny element and factor interacts dynamically. Get on it, and be in it too.
destory is available on Evel. [Bandcamp]
