Drudged Torn Routine sounds less like the classic Detroit techno of yore yet props are given and that old techno sound is clearly represented by Yaporigami. Each track develops into a strange, hypnotic creation that sounds timeless, as if droning on for longer than you’ve been alive.
Native Detroit-ians bemoan their cities status as “abandoned building porn” capital of the world. But while some see only decay and the phantoms of its past grandeur, others see a rebirth and timeless source of inspiration in the sounds of one aspect of Detroit’s musical legacy.
The opening track on Yamanashi-based Yaporigami’s Drudged Torn Routine positively throbs with the ghosts of Detroit’s silenced machines informing the minds and moves of its living residents. The album sounds less like the classic Detroit techno of yore yet props are given and that old techno sound is clearly represented by Yu Miyashita aka Yaporigami. Each track develops into a strange, hypnotic creation that sounds timeless, as if droning on for longer than you’ve been alive.
“Am” is proof of life in its steady fast tempo, looped machine rhythms and ghostly whispering echoes of clipped voices and sounds. It marches the mind into a path of strength through dance, getting you to move and hear the deeper elements at work through your body less than your ears. The song slowly devolves into staccato rhythms and droning whisp’s of melody peeking out from underneath. “Is” starts with gated drums reminiscent of Scuba’s “Triangulation” then cuts a decidedly unique path into strategically mixed, subtly buried and murky rhythms. Gentle pads move in, swirling around the stereo field as multiple rhythms ice their way through a dense collage of sounds and beats. The track lulls you into a hypnotic state with its looped and repeated overtures which are never heavy handed but always forceful. “Are” opens with a slinking beat and echoing looped rhythms. There are elements here that are strangely familiar but upon closer inspection remain indistinct. Its the sound of steam and machines, hissing and working, building more machines for unknown uses. Sound is repurposed here for aims unclear. “Was” has a stuttering, glitchy beat at its foundation, punctuated by thudding 909 kicks and snares augmented into something stronger than their usual cliches. Sounds snake across the stereo field, stopping as if caught on something jagged and sharp before freeing themselves to start again. The loops stutter along here as a rhythm builds into something industrial without the feeling that Nitzer Ebb’s Douglas McCarthy is about to jump in any second now and shout about muscles and dance.
On the second half we have “Were”—a glitchy, unsteady affair, the sound of great beasts freeing themselves from an oily, murky tarpit. It lopes and stutters, lashing out but never making contact. The beats putter and start like mosquitoes buzzing around your head without being annoying. “Be” opens with the most accessible beat of the album so far, albeit obscured by what sounds like a washing machine. The deep machine tones continue as beats brought down by low bit depth pass from ear to ear. What sounds like an elephant bowing a length of copper piping is the closest approximation to a melody that you’ll hear on Drudged Torn Routine. “Being” sounds like robots fighting, pounding each other hard as they tumble down concrete steps. The machine fight continues as metallic beats collide with their looped counterparts in a drawn out battle for supremacy. No one wins but the listener.
“Been” closes the album in a noisy jumble of cinder blocks chucked into industrial dryers while metal clangs and clashes in harsh, industrial beats. A fitting end to a powerful album on a venerable label from Detroit, Michigan, the birthplace of techno.
Drudged Torn Routine is available on Detroit Underground.
