Critikal

"Graphorrhea" CD

Nexsound / Kvitnu / Zeromoon

Genre: experimental electronic, noise

July 24 2008

Critikal brings us music from the noisier end of the Ukrainian experimental electronic spectrum. Named after a manic symptom in which patients write incessantly and often nonsensically, Graphorrhea is often an incessant and nonsensical record. Which isn’t strange fare for a noise release, of course. Operating as a sort of experimental super-group, this quartet of Dmytro Fedorenko, Andrey Kiritchenko, Tobias Astrom (Militant Fields), and Jeff Surak (of the Zeromoon label) construct abstract, abrasive soundscapes that fit somewhere between Merzbow and Fennesz. Especially exhilarating are the moments in which tension is built between loud and soft dynamics, as is best exemplified by “Rapture Periods” and “Wail Absorption.” Also gratifying are more atmospheric pieces like “Tesseract of Distrust” and “The Prime Seed,” the latter of which concludes brilliantly with the magnificent sounds of some sort of digital helicopter. At times, you feel like you’ve stumbled into the middle of a very surreal horror film (think Session 9). Indeed, it is that unpredictable, almost cutthroat mood that makes Graphorrhea appealing.

80%

Matt Shimmer

[Vitals: 13 tracks, distributed by the label, released 2008]