- The Σ collective isn't widely known within Berlin, their center of operations, let alone within the wider world of techno. I'm not sure whether their first proper EP, a challenging five-tracker following a cassette tape and a pair of seven-inches, will change that. On the one hand, it's being issued by Unterton, Ostgut Ton's sublabel for artists outside the label's usual orbit—a strong calling card within electronic music. On the other, Σ's sound is intense, abstract and decidedly not for everyone. But Summe is a strong opening gambit for a crew who certainly deserves a spot on the radars of techno fans not content with business as usual.
In its dry sound and economical construction, Summe strongly resembles the early, hand-stamped records by Norman Nodge and Marcel Dettmann on the latter's MDR label. If the tracks are put together like tools, though, it doesn't mean they perform obvious functions. A solid 20 seconds of "Erosion" is eerily quiet, and the noisy throb that grows out of it crescendos to an abrupt return of that silence. "Objectness" and "Schleife III" take on relatively familiar forms—the murky, slow-motion techno cut and the peak-time gallop, respectively—but they're suffused with alienating levels of dread and dissonance. The cuts in between, "Schleife I" and "Schleife IX," are the EP's best, though only the bravest DJs are likely to give them a rinse. Listen hard enough through the full-throttle drums and you'll find the 4/4 beat that's (barely) holding these disorienting sounds together.
Tracklist01. Erosion
02. Objectness
03. Schleife I
04. Schleife IX
05. Schleife III