Celebrating the 100th anniversary of avant titan Iannis Xenakis, this late works collection arrives as a part of the "Electroacoustic Works" box set, freshly mixed by zeitkratzer sound engineer Martin Wurmnest and remastered by Rashad Becker. Anyone with even the faintest interest in out sound, headmelt synthetics, harsh noise or anything resembling experimental music, this is as essential as they come - utterly mindboggling, timeless material!
Assembling Xenakis takes time, dedication and patience - and we have to thank zeitkratzer director Reinhold Friedl for putting in the hours here. This fifth set from the comprehensive "Electroacoustic Works" collection concentrates on Greek composer Xenakis's work in the early 1990s, as he began to focus obsessively on sound synthesis and computer-controlled generative music. It's some of the harshest, most absorbing material he created, and these new mixes and masters allow us to experience the tracks as they've rarely been heard before.
'Taurhiphanie' is a lurching synthetic experiment that disorientates the listener with pitch-fucked wobbles and sheets of glassy drone - anyone into shepard tone business or Florian Hecker's synapse-tickling experiments really should spend some time with it. Fifteen minute epic 'Voyage Absolu Des Unari Vers Andromède' falls even further into the abys - Xenakis disrupts his tonal experimentation with near-rhythmic tides of low-end movement.
These sounds are expanded into fractal mayhem on 'Gendy 3', with almost 20 minutes of synthesized chirps that flock into dread clouds of unsettling vibration. It's tempting to call it industrial - Xenakis's use of electronics seemingly nods to certain corners of the industrial spectrum - but none of these works ever fall into a pattern. Just as you think you've got them sussed, they veer into fresh sonic territory, guided by foghorn blasts. There's nothing else like it - it's as foundational as it is puzzling, rewarding, and completely enthralling.
