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Individual, "180 Bullets Per Man"
Minimal deconstructed technoise.
Ant-Zen
I was immediately a little confused upon popping Individual's new disc into the CD player because it sounded almost like the CD was skipping through a copy of Pan Sonic's "Osasto EP" on fast forward. Actually, as I grew to understand, that's a lot of what can be expected from this album of minimal, deconstructed technoise. Each song has a particular rhythm that it exploits for a set duration and the dynamics are created by filters, LFOs, and subtle delay effects more than flourishes of arrangement. Most of the parts of each track subtly fade in and then gracefully exit over time. For this reason, I'd say that 180 Bullets... takes more after the minimal techno and trance mom's side of the family than it does after dad's unruly noise side. Such a simple formula works for Individual though, and the repeating patterns of thumpy kick drums and static bursts begin to behave the way a multisyllabic word does when you say it over and over and over. Are there new rhythms constantly bubbling up to the surface or is my brain just latching on to different parts of the same loop to keep from feeling bored? Either way, it works and none of the tracks ever seem too long. In fact, a few end abruptly on the short side, begging the question of how to tactfully end a piece of music that relies on its monotony and microscopic shifts in scope for its drama. The track titles have an obsessive militaristic theme that I don't really pick up from the music itself, but if it takes reflection on war and bullets for Individual to come up with tracks like these, I hope he keeps at it.
I was immediately a little confused upon popping Individual's new disc into the CD player because it sounded almost like the CD was skipping through a copy of Pan Sonic's "Osasto EP" on fast forward. Actually, as I grew to understand, that's a lot of what can be expected from this album of minimal, deconstructed technoise. Each song has a particular rhythm that it exploits for a set duration and the dynamics are created by filters, LFOs, and subtle delay effects more than flourishes of arrangement. Most of the parts of each track subtly fade in and then gracefully exit over time. For this reason, I'd say that 180 Bullets... takes more after the minimal techno and trance mom's side of the family than it does after dad's unruly noise side. Such a simple formula works for Individual though, and the repeating patterns of thumpy kick drums and static bursts begin to behave the way a multisyllabic word does when you say it over and over and over. Are there new rhythms constantly bubbling up to the surface or is my brain just latching on to different parts of the same loop to keep from feeling bored? Either way, it works and none of the tracks ever seem too long. In fact, a few end abruptly on the short side, begging the question of how to tactfully end a piece of music that relies on its monotony and microscopic shifts in scope for its drama. The track titles have an obsessive militaristic theme that I don't really pick up from the music itself, but if it takes reflection on war and bullets for Individual to come up with tracks like these, I hope he keeps at it.samples:
