Planned Obsolescence is a collection of organic abhorrence. Techno sown in toxic soil, allowed to grow in a caustic fog of feedback and spread.
An interesting collective has taken root under the Analogic Density banner, one steeped in the traditions of Italian techno, bred on analogue instruments and discontent. 2017 means new possibilities, and a new format. The Italian label has gone cassette with its latest compilation, seven tracks of Planned Obsolescence.
Past contributors have been assembled alongside a newcomer. Geotropism has plied his toughened techno trade on Interwave and Makes Me Dizzy, rinsing rooms in acid squalor and bpm brutalism. But his two tracks here, “Helicoid Tape Edit” and “Savana”, sheath the savagery. Tempos are lowered, jagged edges smoothed, as a different side of this artist is unveiled. Stalwart SOUR pours 303 scorn across the magnetic tape with his additions. Bitter bars take control while beats remain below the carnage point. “Micropunte” by label boss Lowfreq77 opens the flip. Bubbling and dark, the track has a bleak and reduced sound that is pure analogue badness. Another member of the old guard, Labarome T.M.I., is on hand to stoke the furnaces with “Acidroid.” As the title might suggest, machine squirm and squawk are the focus with claps supporting those bending and buckling bars. Stefano Rocchi closes. Toms stumble over one another to avoid piercing 303 spikes for a track that is as absorbing as it is grizzled.
Planned Obsolescence is a collection of organic abhorrence. Techno sown in toxic soil, allowed to grow in a caustic fog of feedback and spread. Each piece sounds like a live jam, an idea set in motion with the machine and musician allowing it to reach an unknown and undetermined end point. As ever, not for the fainthearted or faint-minded.
Planned Obsolescence is available on Analogic Density.
