- Juan Pablo Pfirter's music can get ridiculously over-the-top, so he was an interesting choice for Stroboscopic Artefacts, an imprint which—despite its small catalogue—has attracted a lot of attention for their surreal industrial techno. It's a style which seems to be divining quality from the various artists who get involved, and Pfirter's aggressive stance marries harmoniously with the label's dystopian aesthetic, continuing the storming monochrome of the Monad series nicely.
The two full-on techno offerings, "Arcon" and "Repeticion," are peak-time steam trains, thundering through deep wastelands and billows of mist. The first takes the empty, hollow pounding of a distorted kick and holds it taut over rumbling sub-bass, while clanking folds of white noise envelop the chugging in between, building and forming into towering pillars of hellish glory. "Repecticion" is a cleaner cut, but we're talking relative here. Whiplash bursts penetrate the darkness as the drums roll along, with as much momentum as they have cold foreboding.
Cavernous, dubstep-style pressure is applied by "Supraventricular," its distant, furious tantrum threatening to distort the foundations of whichever metallic dungeon it is encased within. "Materia" is alien ambience, with a throbbing heart that sounds like it's influenced by Plastikman's Consumed, but more viscerally evil. Creepy shimmering sits underneath the snarls of myriad nameless wraiths, taking us to Plutonian swamps at the edge of reality. And beyond.
Tracklist 01. Arcon
02. Repeticion
03. Supraventricular
04. Materia