Perfectly Deep Weekly #68:
Toki Fuko, Lotus Eater, Topdown Dialectic

Lotus Eater - Plasma (feat. Lucy & Rrose) (2022)
Stroposcopic Artefacts

Tags: #drone #deepelectronica

There is 'deep' electronic music, and then there is 'super deep' electronic music. Lotus Eater makes music that falls into the latter category. Opening with 'Pendulum,' a hypnotic, beatless dark ambient track with a foreboding demeanor, this album is a dark experience altogether.

'Lost Conductor' is next and centers around a highly compressed, subdued, fast-paced kickdrum and a relentless, oscillating pulse. It has an intense feel and a sense of urgency that is apparent in the next track, too, titled 'Wishing Well.' The pace here is slower, but not less anxious.

'Tunnel' is a hypnotic, deep techno track and one of my favorites. The kick drum is pounding in the background while leaving the foreground to a siren-sounding synth pad that reverberates perpetually. Up next, 'Intracluster' goes full-on drone, reminiscent of harsh noise.

I particularly like the ending triad of tracks: 'The End of World,' 'Filament,' and 'Pray,' which take the position of a super minimal, super deep crescendo to end this brilliantly bleak musical experience in a grand anti-finale. The first, 'The End...,' is nothing but a bassline and a drone being manipulated and distorted through various filters (keeping a low-pass filter on there throughout for maximum bass vibration), which works surprisingly well. 'Filament' strips things down further and reminds me of work by Raster Noton's Carsten Nicolai. Lastly, 'Pray' is a dark ambient monster, where Lotus Eater sends us off without any sign of remorse.

The Lotus Eater moniker covers the work of a duo consisting of Luca Mortellaro (aka. Lucy), who is an Italian DJ and producer now based in Berlin, Germany, and Seth Horvitz (Rrose), a Los Angeles-based DJ and producer. Both are "techno artists just as comfortable operating in the uncharted area of experimental music," as the press materials state, drawing upon some unusual musical inspirations.

Luca is the founder of Stroboscopic Artefacts, the label on which this record is also released. Not confined to typical pre-conceptions of what an electronic musician, producer, or DJ must be, Lucy has evolved his sonic identity by reconciling the intensely personal with the esoteric and harmonizing technology and biology domains. He has become a unique artist due to his ability to entertain a crowd while simultaneously exposing them to concepts they were unfamiliar with and forcing them outside of their comfort zone.

Seth Horvitz, also known as Sutekh and Rrose, is an experimental electronic and techno music composer and performer. His research focuses on how human perception, iterative processes, and the peculiar behavior of machines interact. Since the middle of the 1990s, he has been experimenting with the techno genre and has released songs on many record companies, including his own Context Free Media.

Seth Horvitz's discography, which has come out on notable labels like Force Inc., Richie Hawtin's M_Nus, and Plug Research, has a natural learned sense and excellent composition. This is probably because of his interest in conventional music theory, studies in electronic music and recording media, as well as a degree in cognitive science. His endeavors integrate classical music with modern technologies through performances.

As Lotus Easter, the two have crafted one hell of an album together.

Topdown Dialectic - S/T 2013 (2022)
Peak Oil

Tags: #dubtechno #experimentaltechno
 

This record came out originally in 2013 on a now-closed label called Tailings. As an effort of musical archaeology, Peak Oil - the label which we coincidentally also visited a few weeks back - reissued this gem on vinyl just two weeks ago.

The person behind the work, however, is entirely obscure. The press release exquisitely describes this, which I feel compelled to quote in full length because of how well it's written:

"As a process, not a person, Topdown Dialectic encourages listeners to focus solely on the sound, devoid of narrative or autobiographical frame. The sensation is liberating. Unnamed and unknown, opaque and oblique, each track is a transfixing microcosm of glitch, mystery, and murmuring emotion. A synergy of fragments and echoes and accidents, immaculately conceived, forever unfolding and unfinished."

So that's that.

The 'A1' opener is an ambient track with elusive and airy synth pads that swirl around each other through graceful LFOs and some light percussion. On top of that, halfway through, a beautiful synth theme sways in the background. Next comes 'A2,' a slightly punchier acquaintance with a more frantic beat yet still a highly spacious sound characterized by lots of echo and distorted vocal snippets.

On 'A3,' we move into calmer waters with a melancholic organ motif and dubby vibes. The track has an oddly slow tempo, which is not unusual, but the pitch sounds as if playing a 45 rpm record on 33 RPMs. It's weirdly comforting, like tugging yourself under a heavy blanket.

'A4' takes us further into dub and dub techno. It challenges the standard template for that by featuring some random, gritty noise samples in parallel and, halfway through, introducing what sounds like a synth line coming out of an industrial techno track - with overstated hand claps and everything.

The b-side, starting at track five with 'B1,' features traits from the click'n'cuts genre of the 2000s. Jumping between different drum patterns and samples, the bassline ties the track elegantly together. Then comes 'B2' and 'B3,' both very minimal and deep. 

The first is composed simply of a minimalistic off-beat, a hissy noise sample, and some cut-up vocal samples pushed through various filters. The latter is a bit more chaotic, resembling almost some lightweight breakcore, yet with a more conventional 4/4-kick-drum, which stumbles now and then.

Lastly, 'B4,' the closer, sends us off with beatless dub techno echoing endlessly through massive swathes of reverb. A soothing ending to an unpredictable and delightful album.

As mentioned, the album comes out on the US-based Peak Oil label, which, for some reason, I needed help digging out details about last time. Since then, I've found plenty of information, though, like, for instance, that it is run by two Brian's, Brian Foote and Brion Brionson, who reside in Los Angeles. The label has been around since 2012, but seeing how both Brian's made their entry into raving all the back in the 1990s, draw upon a much longer and richer history of electronic music. This shows in the steady stream of quality material that's been coming out over the years. Well worth a deep dive if you're into the cross-section of ambient, IDM, and dubby electronica/techno.

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