Spearheading a campaign of blackened machine music, spirited sounds carved from cold-hearted machinery.
The rise of The Exalitics seems to be unstoppable. Robert Witschakowski is going from strength to strength. His Solar One Music imprint is clocking up more and more quality releases whilst the German producer himself is gracing imprints like Crème Organization, Bunker and Abstract Acid with his brand of Electro. The Jena man is returning to The Netherlands for a special début on Clone with Some Other Place Vol 1.
“Intro” is a slow and sombre start, weighty atmospheres painted under leaden skies before Electro takes hold with “Places.” Witschakowski has developed an ability to layer emotion into his compositions. “Places” sings with a lonesome wandering, a dislocation amplified by cold percussion. Gravity returns with “Walking Through The Stratosphere” before the lighter mood of “It Still Remains” lifts the listener from a brooding mire. Darkness is always a theme of The Exaltics, the searching of shadows and what lies behind the light. But for Some Other Place Vol 1 that ashen aspect is balanced with translucent shimmers. “Thrown Away” battles the gloom. Bars rumble and bleed under an intense pressure of lost harmonies and decay. “One More Day” closes and sorrow is superb. The tempo drops, beats having been sidelined for grief stewed chords and an otherworldly bleakness.
As The Exaltics, Robert Witschakowski has become a contemporary pioneer of Electro. Alongside musicians like Morphology, E.R.P. and Kurt Baggaley, this German artist is spearheading a campaign of blackened machine music, spirited sounds carved from cold-hearted machinery. Some Other Place Vol 1 traverses a line that The Exaltics project has been cultivating, a division between a downtrodden disenfranchisement and a future of possibility. Hope springs eternal, but despair is ever present.
Some Other Place Vol 1 is available on Clone.
