Minimum to maximum, ambient to aggressive
Aggression has, for the most part, been a matter of force or damage. They yell, the guitars scream, the drums roar. All a product of man’s basest tendencies, a primitive release. Reining it back, Live 2002, is in many ways a controlled exploration of the impulses preceding the violence. Its pulsating sine waves and pricking clicks dig themselves into its listener’s skull. Scoring the ascent to man’s breaking point, narrating the build-up to a night of transgressions and misdeeds.
The early 2000s were witness to a new era of minimal electronic music characterised by a stripped back electronic sound and glitchy textures. Spearheaded by labels like Raster Noton, the movement failed to truly crystallise into anything substantial, with near misses we would see in releases like Ikeda’s Dataplex or Ripatti’s Entain. Or so we thought. A decade and a half later, we have what could be considered the scene’s opus, performed live for a residency in The Baltic Centre For Contemporary Art, all this while tucked away in a dank corner somewhere.
Live 2002 blends minimal techno, glitch and microsound in a truly gorgeous and yet simultaneously unnerving method. Over the course of 11 movements, it presents itself as a true work of art and a labour of love, birthed from spontaneity, yet controlled, measured, and sinister.
-4 stars
