NOR_POL have a new five-track single-sided tape EP called simply + (ZOHARUM ZOHAR 335-4) brewing together minimal electronica, techno, dub, and a dash of industrial lead in the counterweights…this Norwegian-Polish duo were last heard by us in 2020 with their quite-good Construction record for this label, but today’s effort has more hard edges and crisp batons to spoke the unwary cyclist. Łukasz Szałankiewicz is Zenial, who we first reviewed in 2003; he has been quite imaginative on past forays, particularly on the bizarre Lancelot’s Delusions record, while Jorgen Knudesen was apparently a member of Baktruppen (I learn to my surprise), that Norwegian performance-art troupe responsible for crazy hi-jinks and cut-ups on the streets of Bergen in the 1980s. The diversity on today’s record might reflect the circumstances of its making, as each cut is plucked from a different time and place and given the final master-chef production touch at the eleventh hour. Some nice moods, some heavy cronks, some enigmatic touches, even some surprisingly enjoyable tunes. (25/10/2024)
Further horrifying industrial techo-power-electro combat-crunch from Poland on the split Grey Zone (ZOHARUM ZOHAR 328-2). Both Larmo and Nothing Has Changed hail from Silesia and also share common ground in their mission to split the skull of the human race, using beat-boxes from Hell and bludgeoning dynamos made in Warsaw. The title of the split might be implying some statement about global politics, or conflict, or something; certainly the music of these two cheerless fellows is aiming at constructing a dehumanising environment, where all who enter are enslaved to an agency that renders mankind powerless and lethargic. I think I’ve heard more Larmo records than I want to now; Nothing Has Changed (Michał Kiełbasa) has a few monstrous records on the Old Temple label, and is evolving towards embracing specific forms of “illbient” in his music, a genre which apparently emanates from Birmingham UK, perhaps including such champions as Khost. We endured his Hissing Guilt album in 2022, and some of his tracks here share the same titles. (25/10/2024)