vinyl + magazine – MOAB

A result of an accurate selection of tracks from different recordings of concerts and rehearsals, Ways To Prepare Pets For War by Otomax follows a specific rule: all the improvisations are set to an overall length of five minutes (actually between three and six minutes, because it’s not always possible to constrain some naturally free forms of expression). The group comes from the Southern Netherlands and is comprised of Nika Schmitt (vocal, fx-electronic, tapes e sample), Mike Moonen (turntablism), Fran Hoebergen (hacked game boy fm-synthesizer, tape and circuit bent toys), Joep Hinssen (drum computer, analogue synths and samples) and Paul Devens (circuit bent drum computer, circuit bent toy and modified vintage keyboards). The group hovers between circuit bending, lo-fi and improvisation, where each artist uses his special set of specialized sonic knowledge. As a primary support for the group, there is also the eclectic DJ Marcelle, an icon of the Amsterdam alternative music scene. The band implements and nurtures all the creative inputs from the members, who come from very different and non-mainstream backgrounds (art, sound art, dj and fashion design), with a heterogeneous creativity recalling somehow the extreme freedom of early eighties avant-rock. Even the artwork and the twenty-eight-page magazine associated with vinyl release are the result of a refined, unconventional and imaginative aesthetic, rich in well-combined photographic images and drawings, texts and visual testimonies of the instruments used, a plethora of keyboards, toys, turntables and effects. For some time, the pandemic has made it impossible for Otomax to do shows or rehearsals and even the release of the album was delayed. Improvising via the Internet, sending each other recordings in sequence, or organizing meetings via videoconference, was in any case a way to overcome this setback, thanks to a new and unusual creative method. The settings of the Otomax are always clever, but it is in the installations in particular that the maximum iteration between the different parts involved is obtained, immediately making explicit the chaotic and playful machinic attitude of the group.

 

Otomax – Ways To Prepare Pets For War