Freddy Ruppert
i dreamed we lost everything
Static Definitions
A far cry from his lo-fi synthpop work in Former Ghosts and the tortured noise of his early This Song Is A Mess But So Am I recordings, the recent releases from Freddy Ruppert have taken a haunting, halting approach to noise and sound collage, much more Sylvian or The Caretaker than power electronics. The Prague-based producer’s latest, i dreamed we lost everything, makes the most of a light touch to synthesis, sampling, and crackling atmosphere across a half hour of understated but varied listening. From the unease produced by the Soliloquy for Lilith-like hums of “all things left unsaid” to the pastoral arpeggios of the title track, Ruppert’s taken the time to think about how sound design feeds into composition and vice versa. There’s no one-size fits all approach to either though, with the oddly peaceful and dusty industrial ambience of of “shoeboxes” being worlds apart from the quavering way closer “memory leak (lost voices)” unfolds with cinematic grace. Legitimately affecting and surprisingly relistenable experimentation.
Brood Faye
The Tank
self-released
It’s hard to draw a bead on California’s Brood Faye; the music on debut LP The Tank fits broadly into the current wave of electronics that draws from both darkwave and EBM, but with an alternately sardonic and riled-up attitude that feels pretty singular. It’s not hard to imagine hearing a cut like “Pinyon Prick” with its whispered vocals and speedy rhythm programming in a club setting, but its not a mode that the project sticks to for long, with follow-up “Me and Larry” transitioning into a punky bit of funky electro with yelled vocals that fill out the mix. That departure is nothing next to a full-on squelchy electro country and western number of “Farrah Fawcett”, which itself comes after the chillingly matter-of-fact monologue of ambient interstititial track “Muhannad Posts and Troy Voicemail”. Whether on the manic, spitfire rhymed vocals of “Gov Psy Op” or the comparatively straight mid-tempo swing of “Sweet Assassin”, Brood Faye keeps things lean, DIY and unpredictable, all qualities we could use more from the dark alt scene at large.
