- An experimental club polemic full of harsh noises and fiery climaxes, inspired by the producer's life in Kuwait.
- Prosthetics, Van Boom's debut LP, does not start softly. "Prologue" is an introduction to 26 minutes of sonic catharsis that voices a distinct political agenda without words or clear overtures. Incorporating sounds from his native Kuwait, Van Boom's music channels, into violent contrast, the way the country succeeds economically with how it handles arts, culture, expression and personal freedom. Although Kuwait is the fifth-richest country for gross national income per capita, the government's approach to human rights and repression of minorities, dissidents and foreign workers lingers in the background. It's this tension that provides the backdrop for Van Boom's impressive, often frightening debut album.
The LP, released on Varg²™'s label Cease 2 Exist, was two years in the making. That's two years to reflect on and build ideas with the support of an ever-evolving community of musicians in the Middle East, West Asia and North Africa. In the past half-decade, a new wave of producers and DJs have paved a brand new into global club culture. These include artists like ZULI, Deena Abdelwahed, $$$TAG$$$, Sama' Abdulhadi, Marwa BelHaj Youssef—the list obviously goes on. Some, like Moktar, infuse their productions with influences or sounds from their home countries. Others, like Van Boom, don't make it the focal point, choosing to lean away from what is expected from artists in the Gulf region by Western audiences. To each their own—both approaches lead to a more diverse electronic music scene. Politics come into the picture as artists reclaim their narratives in the Western media landscape, while contributing to a larger decentralisation of global club culture.
Appropriately, the sound of Prosthetics never fits into one genre or style, accentuating the artist's hybrid identity and outsider feelings. These feelings come out clearly in "Torn," where distorted voices unite in anguish. These chants, uttered like an unknown dialect, are scattered across the LP. On "Kafir," screeching sirens ring the alarm. The chosen word for the track is an Arabic and Islamic term that means infidel, or someone who knows God's power but denies it. Van Boom compares this feeling of otherness—the same he feels in Kuwait—with accelerated gabber-influenced rhythms that combine with industrial soundscapes. There are no breakdowns. The never lets you catch your breath, sucking you into Van Boom's inner turbulence.
Prosthetics finds solace, or at least a place to express itself, in club culture and its high-octane soundtrack—a taste of the freedom provided by both IRL and online communities that often think alike or share a similar vision. "XXX," one of the two tracks made with Amsterdam producer whiterose, is a fast-paced paean to sexual liberation whose metallic clanging and noisy textures mirror an accelerated heartbeat. The guitar-singed closer "Malebolgia" is a march into darkness, in reference to Dante's Inferno, an ode to one of the eight circles of hell and an embodiment of otherness and Van Boom's acceptance of it. Just as Dante does, the producer takes us on a musical walk through the gates of hell, hand in hand. The eight tracks are a manifest describing the violence of being different in today's world, contrasted by the peace found in fire.
Van Boom's debut LP is a heady brew of cultural and theological frustration. The self-awareness you can feel in these eight tracks works as an abstract interrogation against the political system, and a tribute to safe spaces. Even without words, Van Boom manages to express these reflections and elements of otherness that keep him from belonging in his own society, where the gritty noise and harsh metallic textures work to break down chains and obligations.
Tracklist01. Prologue
02. Torn
03. Agora feat. whiterose
04. Metal Surface
05. XXX feat. whiterose
06. Cruel
07. Kafir
08. Malebolgia