- Mind-bogglingly immersive, ultra-inventive techno from one of the most exciting names around.
- Katatonic Silentio is one of the most inventive techno producers out there right now. Need proof? Just listen to last year's Les Chemins De L'inconnu, one of the most bewitching albums ever released on Ilian Tape—an impressive blend of abyssal ambient and textural techno. Or check out her new release in Delsin's Mantis series, which takes the Dutch label's deep techno aesthetic to even murkier new depths. Once a proponent of harder, breakcore-influenced rhythms, Mantis 11 completes Katatonic Silentio's journey into slow, ultra-massive techno that disorients as much as it dazzles.
Putting on one of her lengthy tracks feels a bit like slipping into a sensory deprivation tank—suddenly all you can hear is the sound of the room itself, and maybe the ringing of your ears. "Themes" begins just this way, until a staggered heartbeat kick drum rolls its way in. From here, Katatonic Silentio adds new elements and textures carefully, creating a sort of constantly moving ecosystem of dubby, delayed sound effects and percussion of all shapes and sizes. Her music is resolutely monochrome, and it comes alive in a more tactile dimension, snares popping like projectiles hitting water, the ripping of velcro, the rumbling of deep sea machinery. There are so many sounds in so many different corners that you can't always pinpoint the kick drum rhythm, only enhancing the psychedelic effect.
The rest of the EP holds up to its jaw-dropping intro. "To" features odd animal sounds to go with its stuttering, staggered thud—imagine Rrose trudging through a rainforest and you're almost there. "From" is almost dubstep in its shape, and its frightening sound design—like a building collapsing in slow motion—reminds me of some of the most groundbreaking Samurai Horo releases, back when the label was focusing on illusory music that operated in two tempos at once. The sheer force of her techno, even at its slowest, is mesmerising.
That leaves "Hide," another destructive, dubstep-leaning track that pairs X-Files melodies with a fucked up drum sequence that veers between ping-ponging delayed cymbals and a sequence that sounds like contact mic'd snare drums tumbling down a rocky cliff. Katatonic Silentio's music isn't exactly friendly—it's slow, lumbering, devoid of colour and melody. (Even the track titles spell out something threatening: "Themes to hide from.") What Mantis 11 lacks in obvious hooks it makes up for in pure immersion, and some of the finest, most innovative techno since peak Cio D'Or in the late '00s.
Tracklist01. Themes
02. To
03. Hide
04. From