CD – Opa Loka

This release seems to be under the influence of an immanent turmoil, as in Stranger Things, the American TV show created by Matt and Ross Duffero, or in “Dark”, another classic of contemporary dystopian sci-fi. The setting is a state of calm full of tension, as in a space-time gate where soon some cosmic forces will be set free. Also the project name, Cut Worms, lets us think of some inaccessible . These hypothetical space-time topological characteristics are essentially shortcuts of interconnected systems. However here, no ploy is possible, no solution or catharsis will be at the end, the listener is left on an everlasting wander in inhospitable lands. These residual zones of existence offer the poetry of some iterations and few other comforts, limited into some harmonies just hinted or involved on themselves. Behind the name lies Richard van Kruysdijk, who made his debut last year with Opa Loka, an eclectic, industrial and ambient experimental label. Despite being only his second album, the Dutch experimenter is already an experienced artist, due to his past collaborations with milestones of electronics such as David J. (Bauhaus), Blaine L. Reininger (Tuxedomoon) and Graham Lewis (Wire), and musicians such as Peter Martin Christopherson (ex-Throbbing Gristle and founder of Coil), Edward Ka-Game (The Legendary Pink Dots) and Jarboe (Swans). The electronic and repetitive nature of this new Cable Mounds release has dense, imaginative and cinematic structures, with sounds live generated, both acoustic and electronic (but without use of loops or laptops), with the goal of privileging an approach that might have been directed and not technology-mediated (but the works presents different effects and instruments, some also modified). All the compositions were played and recorded with no overdubs. Some important rhythmic structures are missing too, as the maker would prefer some kind of rarefaction, a continuous and fluid motion, as an unavoidable and underhand stream.

 

Cut Worms – Cable Mounds