Hailing from the north, Stockholm label Arsenik delivers an atmospheric and distinctive EP from Berlin based Savas Pascalidis. The 9th release on their label titled Resurfacing sees Savas bring experimental and ambient techno on an almost 30-minute-long mix encompassing sombre and swirling rhythmic efforts that would attract any classic techno fan.
“Digital Wrath” leads the vinyl and digital release, displaying Savas’ analogue mastery and ability to combine pulsating drum patterns with bursting modular synthesised waves.
Following this, “Reality Meltdown” adopts a darker and more industrial aesthetic, violently pulling in the listener through ambient sub-rhythms and less-discrete drum patterns. Sitting at 132 BPM, this track provides a 6-minute journey curated perfectly by Pascalidis.
“Impulse” provides the listener with lighter modulated tones, all the while pushing the track through with a muted kick drum and light-drawn out crash cymbal. This stands by far as the most hypnotic track on this release.
Dystopian and industrial, “Spectral City” provides off-tone and heavy sounding synthesis on top of a classic drum pattern, culminating into a bombshell of work that provides listeners with a persisting sense of dread throughout.
Lastly, “Spatial Anomalies” stands apart from the other tracks on the package, largely consisting of spiralling synthesis, experimentally delving phonographically into the realm of avant-garde inverted post-modernism. On a three-minute long track, Savas elasticises the medium of experimental and ambient synthesis to extend it to an audience usually not suited to that of musique concrète.
Ultimately, Arsenik has largely released a hidden gem, combining non-typical drum patterns with contorted modular synthesis, and the Berlin techno legend delivers typical techno fans with an atypical experimental release.
- Reviewed by Jackson Lees for deathtechno.com
