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BJ Nilsen & Z'EV, "22'22""
The sparse credits that accompany this disc do not make clear if this is an actual collaboration or a split release, though it is obvious that Swedish electronics wizard Nilsen leads the way on the first piece, while everyone's favorite industrial percussionist is the focus of the second. Regardless, the cryptic liner notes and black-on-black artwork are completely appropriate visual representations of the dark expanse that constitutes this album.
The track credited specifically to Nilsen is a slow, sparse drift of electronics. Although obviously synthetic in creation, it feels like the sound of massive strings the thickness of telephone wires being played, creating thick, bassy waves of sound. What sounds like it could be some of Z'EV's percussion elements are treated down to a gentle vibration, like a loose panel on the side of vibrating machinery. It is a dark affair through and through, with the sweeping low end punctuated with bizarre mechanical hums that pile on a sense of impending doom and destruction.
In some ways, the second track specifically credited to Z'EV is the polar opposite: it is more explosive force and energy next to Nilsen's inertial drift. The track is heavily comprised of the heavily reverberating metallic percussion elements he is known for, with only enough processing to let their impact transfer fully to a recorded medium. Interestingly, there are some passages that take small digital delays of the sound and use them to shape and mould the sound, as opposed to just the actual percussive elements. The overall track becomes as much about the microcosmic sonic debris as it is about the explosive metallic pulse. Compositionally, there is also a great deal of moments in which the sound swells to an explosive, chaotic climax before dissipating to near silence, akin to some of Hermann Nitsch's compositional work for his Orgies Mysteries Theater.
Although only two tracks (both clocking in at, unsurprisingly, 22:22 excluding a few seconds padding for mastering purposes) are listed in the liner notes, a third, also of the same length, is on the disc as well. Although largely silent, there is a small, short reprise in the closing few minutes of restrained metallic thump and clatter that could be some original source material, and outtake, or something else entirely. Regardless, it is there, and makes an interesting footnote.
This is overall a somewhat difficult disc since it does stylistically shift greatly from one half to the other, and therefore takes a listener who is willing to accept both extremes. However, Nilsen's minimal electronics compliment Z'EV's maximal percussion nicely, and the dark, yet beautiful mood is surely consistent between both of the long pieces, and thus make it a more appropriate combination than words or descriptions alone would seem.
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