- "Uncertainty" seems as good a place as any to start with nsi.'s newest EP, Eitherway. Tobias Freund and Max Loderbauer's undoubted goal in the studio is to get to a place where uncertainty reigns, a point at which the Standard Institute becomes the Non Standard Institute. Considering the duo's long history in the studio, it stands to reason that it takes them a while to get there, but they've nonetheless coaxed yet another collection of oddball electronic ditties from the gear here.
There's a tendency to wax poetic about the sounds of nsi.. (Kraftwerk stuck in an elevator with an insect walking across a microphone, etc. etc.) And Eitherway is no exception, with the sound palate often resisting easy categorization. But just as often, like on "Forward," it's easy to tell what's going on for a long while. (A piano, in this case, forced out of phase with itself with another chord jumping on top to further increase the tension.) "Uncertainty," meanwhile, pits random chords against a quick-hitting synth blurts that go up and down as if they're controlled by whim alone.
Eitherway's other tracks are similarly guided by an agenda that may only be known to Freund and Loderbauer themselves, but something tells me that they're as in the dark as anyone else. The guiding principle here seems to be based around two ideas: If it sounds cool, and we haven't heard it before, chuck it in. If only more producers did the same.
Tracklist A1 Scale
A2 Cabinet
A3 Eitherway
B1 Forward
B2 Uncertainty
B3 Tapped