- Acoustically-deceiving, mind-rearranging music from Rrose that moves beyond techno into something more tactile and unpredictable.
- Rrose's official biography suggests they exist between the live and the dead, or in perpetual limbo—born 1969, died 1909. But right now, it feels like the Marcel Duchamp-inspired techno project is more alive than ever. On Please Touch, Seth Horvitz's alter ego goes beyond the balance they've become known for—between their sensual, muscular energy and decaying sweeps—to expand into new, more challenging realms of sound.
Since their first releases on Sandwell District (including the immortal "Waterfall"), Rrose has crafted ultra-detailed techno using layered, filtered frequencies and tactile hissing sounds. The results are one-of-a-kind sonic anatomies—not so much techno tracks as twitching, nervy organisms. There was an angsty ambiance to older tracks like "Swallows" or "Undergrowth," but here the atmosphere becomes more elegant, like on "Spines." You can feel the vibration down to your bones, the broken kick drums kept in check by the ever-shifting percussive noises. It's like a techno aural illusion.
Please Touch is another jewel in a uniquely exploratory discography that plays tricks on your feelings and sensations, ranging from cataclysmic techno to grounding, meditative drones. For Rrose aficionados who are already accustomed to their propulsive rhythms, Please Touch has some pleasantly familiar moments, like the agonizing build-up and skittering sounds of "Rib Cage." But there are also new paths, such as "Pleasure Vessels" and "Feeding Time." The former features colourful, Jon Hassell-like tones—still fizzing in classic Rrose style—while "Feeding Time" is a richly harmonic sound bath, guided by a dizzying synth sequence that wanders in circles.
The new album feels more cohesive than Hymn To Moisture, zeroing in on the most psychedelic aspects of Rrose's sound. Please Touch flows beautifully between pleasantly loafing tracks and more robust, jerky efforts like "Spore." The opener "Joy Of The Worm" plays to both sides, subtly assertive and guided by its sparse hi-hats and hypnotic bassline. And, on top of an already dense sound palette, the bleak mood of "Disappeared" and the kaleidoscopic swirl of "The Illuminating Glass" showcase an even wider array of tempers and tempos.
While Rrose studied electronic music at Mills College (with a faculty that has included Pauline Oliveros, Maggi Payne and Robert Ashley over the years) to distance their music from the club, they also dared their techno-skeptic teacher, Bob Ostertag, to try making beat-oriented music. Coming full circle, Please Touch excels in combining a techno formula with experimental composition techniques, dialing in and out of the genre's trademark thump and coalescing into a thick, immersive digital-ness. In this sense, Please Touch embodies Oliveros's deep listening practice: "changing or dissolving [the] limiting boundaries" in the act of listening itself.
The album's title calls to mind signs in museums that were removed from exhibitions during the pandemic—signs that invite visitors to touch and feel historical, often culturally extinct oddities (like the sculpture pictured on its cover). Please Touch also reflects the renewed pleasure of being out in the world, finding contact in an unrestricted, curious way. It's music you can not only hear, but caress, feel and receive.
Tracklist01. Joy of the Worm
02. Rib Cage
03. Pleasure Vessels
04. Spore
05. Feeding Time
06. Spines
07. Disappeared
09. The Illuminating Glass
10. Turning Blue