- Listening to Treibgut, I think of Richard Devine, CoH and maybe Kid606, but it was Germany's longest river that was on Grischa Lichtenberger's mind while making it. The conceptual artist and musician's debut EP is apparently the audio outlet for a sizable series of works (including paintings, installations and videos) inspired by the River Rhine and its surroundings, that allow him to grapple with abstract notions such as exile and the other, relation and address.
But whatever else Treibgut may conceivably be, it's booming, jerky laptop funk in the main. "0406_01_RS_!," the aptly-named opening track, initiates a formula wherein the thundering stop-start of the bass maintains a hip-hop swagger that gives muscle to the music's more antisocial leanings—jarring crashes, shrill squeals and buzzing feedback. "1205_10" drives home a clear admiration for Autechre, threading the dense, buzzing track with a pensive mood and, impressively, approaching the engrossing complexity of some of the Manchester duo's recent work. "Calipso," meanwhile, works in a meandering melody, putting the pummeling rhythms to a crooked snake-charming tune. The final track is a choppy din of annoying noises and over-the-top drum barrages, bringing the EP to a brash, unhinged finale, but sounding a bit unformed on its own.
Following last winter's punchy NHK record, Treibgut is the second installment in Raster-Noton's new Unununium series. Another storm of metallic algorithms and beat breaks, this one's less expert, and more raw and "noisy" than its predecessor. Coming from a label whose pristine sound designs sometimes veer toward formalist rigor, a little banging on pots and pans isn't necessarily unwelcome.
TracklistA1 0406_01_RS_!
A2 1205_10
B1 0607_LV_1_RE
B2 Calipso
B3 0106_12_LV_3 Sand Ausheben