Rontronik :: Zero Nine (Tygr Rawwk Rcrds)

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Rontronik‘s taste for noisy textures and atmospheric shines on Zero Nine. Although in terms of composition, the album runs smoothly, its production is solid enough to demonstrate a good sense of timbre, and the sound palette he chooses to highlight is astounding.

Blending glitchy and noisy textures with really beautiful and serene synth sweeps

Following up last year’s Zero Eight, Rontronik follows natural numbers and displays more textured atmospheres on Zero Nine; it makes me wonder if next up we’re going to be getting Zero Ten or just Ten, but we might have to wait until 2026 to find that out. In the meantime, Zero Nine continues the direction of ambient and IDM that Rontronik (aka Ron Croudy) likes to experiment with, blending glitchy and noisy textures with really beautiful and serene synth sweeps.

On this record specifically, the two worlds don’t merge as much as they did on Zero Eight, leaving a lot of room for each to shine independently; as far as the ambient side of things goes, there’s some really beautiful atmospheres presented on this LP, while the glitchier cuts can get quite dark and industrial-like.

The first few tracks ease you into the album’s general atmosphere, with the opener being one of the calmer pieces on the whole record, while the following “Zero Nine Two” starts to play a bit with more elaborate textures to make you familiarize with the central portion of the record. “Zero Nine One” is one of the best overall tracks, it’s a very nice ambient piece whose lead chord progression does a majority of the work, given how sweet it is. I also really really enjoy the airy pads in the background, and those damn bird calls, they may not seem like they’re anything special, but they’re such a nice touch, as they bring the almost cold digital atmosphere of this song into an even smoother realm, adding a bit of an organic feel to it.

“Zero Nine Two” begins to stumble in its own steps, as it stutters and glitches through its rather noisy atmosphere, not a sharp contrast from track one, but it’s definitely drifting away from the easy and smooth atmosphere of its predecessor. “Zero Nine Three” then eases you back into it, with some more prolonged synth arrangements.

The meatier middle section ::

“Zero Nine Four” marks the meatier middle section of this LP, alongside “Zero Nine Five.” It may be that Rontronik wanted to keep this album pleasant overall, instead of focusing on more noise and beat-driven tracks, but I only say that because these two happen to be the shortest tracks by a pretty wide margin. Either way, they leave quite an impression, they’re the most succulent part of the record being squeezed in between a pretty tame opening and closing section, so they definitely stick out. The former, “Zero Nine Four,” is rather straightforward, it’s a nice drum loop that acts as the backbone for the constantly morphing atmospheric parts, which would be pretty sweet like other parts of the LP if they weren’t paired with such a distressing beat—again, it’s quite a departure from the rest of the record.

The latter, “Zero Nine Five,” is my favorite track of the bunch, merging the best of both worlds. It starts off as a pretty dry trap beat, but before you get sick of it Rontronik subverts expectations completely by adding in the best sounding synths on the whole LP. I really really love how colorful and bright they sound, yet the melody is so soft that they come off as everything but that; it adds a nice psychedelic splash, fighting against the stiff beat underneath, and oddly enough this combination works incredibly well.

The last two tracks bring the record back into calm, with “Zero Nine Six” being my favorite of the ambient tracks. The closer, on the other hand, is unfortunately pretty boring, and I say unfortunately because by itself it occupies almost a third of the album’s runtime. It’s one of those ambient loops that leaves me rather unimpressed due to a lack of detail and repetition that gets stale after some minutes, a category of ambient that I’ve never been impressed by, and while it’s not a bad track by any means, it comes off as a limp album closer.

All in all though, Rontronik’s taste for noisy textures and atmospheric shines on Zero Nine. Although in terms of composition, the album runs smoothly, its production is solid enough to demonstrate a good sense of timbre, and the sound palette he chooses to highlight is astounding. An overall short and sweet ambient and IDM record that’s pretty distinct from the myriad of albums you could address in the same fashion.

Rontronik (Ron Croudy), is a music producer, DJ/Controllerist, and co-founder of micro-label Töshöklabs, based in New York City.