Philip Sanderson was invited to Klang 30 in June 2023 – a festival in Vienna marking an anniversary for the very fine label Klanggalerie, which has been an active sponsor of Sanderson’s work since 2020’s A Safe Substitute (or even earlier if you count the 2002 7-inch). Once arrived in this historic part of Europe, Sanderson acted like the shameless tourist and recorded all the most “obvious” Viennese sounds he could find as he sauntered out from his 5-star hotel, hopefully wearing his trademark Panama hat and white suit – church bells, the trams, coffee cups, and even a corny old oom-pah band blowing their notes in the street, parping out their ghastly renditions of “pop” songs. Even Harry Lime, the Orson Welles character who dominated the film of The Third Man from his Ferris wheel, gets to make an appearance – oblique though it be – on the supremely atmospheric ‘Lime Lament’. No cliché left unturned…if Sanderson could have jammed his ear-trumpet inside a sacher torte, then no doubt we’d have a “chocolate” track too.
I’m kidding naturally, since these seven cuts on Underneath The Underneath (gg455) not only transcend their field-recording starting-points through the imaginative leaps and turns we associate with this most gifted creator, but they are spliced with ingenious synth curlicues and enriched with non-techno mode beats, plus other post-minimalist moves with electronica devices, looped voices, and a fearless exploration of the grisly pavements of the mind. Even the heritage “Audiomulch” software is pulled out from his trusty 1980s haversack and used to glorp all the mecrons on the title track, which is itself propelled by a galumphing marching plod as it proceeds through all the transformations of the digital rainpipe. And there’s remixes/rebakes of earlier works by Storm Bugs or from his own catalogue, and a VCS3 slugging it out with a radio set, plus Kraftwerk subtexts running underground like a river of tears…few creators have Sanderson’s gift for mixing good-natured (even vaguely humourous) sounds with the darkest possible brands of Bournville, clashing outright abrasive noise-surfs with jolly tunes, and doing all this without any self-conscious attempts to meld and mix “styles” or “genres” in the way of so many lesser contemporary bumblers who are trying so hard to catch the distributor’s eye. If you’d seen him performing these heavy blue brunchers live in the arena, you’d have gone home with a chicken in your pot and a telephone in the top pocket of your serge three-piece suit.
The digipak panels and disc are adorned with recent collage artworks by Sanderson. Another essential triple-decker sandwich with a big delight in every bite. Next year he goes to Bremen…so just think about what he’s going to do with that theme. (14/10/2023)