- Improvised studio experiments from Kassem Mosse and Lowtec.
- Kassem Mosse and Lowtec's new project, Kolorit, debuted at this year's Berlin Atonal. Its first record, which lands on Workshop, the label Lowtec runs with Even Tuell, sounds like the product of live improvisation. Even from a pair who specialize in tentative and exploratory music, Workshop XXI feels particularly elusive and, sometimes, indistinct.
The opening track (all six cuts are untitled) offers an idea of what to expect, with twangy, almost funky melodic elements over an unsteady groove. As if to underline the weirdness, it fades out after six minutes and goes quiet, only to come back even more off-piste. It sounds like the duo are having fun. The same goes for the dubbed-out D2 and the pitch-bent melodies on the Oni Ayhun-like B1. Only the C-side, with its strident drum pattern and classic house chords, breaks out of the narcoleptic approach.
But on the remaining tunes it sounds like the duo fell asleep at the wheel. The D1 is a playful run-through of drum sounds and effects—the spacey melodies are a nice touch, but it never feels like more than a warm-up for a real performance. Even more patience-testing is the B2, with a barely there drum pattern and an irritating effect that sounds like a marble circling a roulette table. This record would be stronger if it were more compact, but it seems like stretching out is the point, sometimes at the expense of quality.
TracklistA1 Untitled 1
B1 Untitled 2
B2 Untitled 3
C1 Untitled 4
D1 Untitled 5
D2 Untitled 6