SPYWEIRDOS – wetsound orchestra

(CD, Poeta Negra)

Good electronica records are hard to come by these days. Especially if they dwell within the basic 4/4-rhythms and try to find their excesses in the subtleties of a unique sound rather than superficial extremes. Being brutal and heavy and upfront is easy it seems, especially when compared to the most minimal micro-analytic approach, where the true revolutions happen like under the microscope. Like the spyweirdos, who are reaching for depth and immanence in their sound rather than the dancefloor, which results in dark atmospheres very much like deep sea diving. You know, those tiny submarines equipped with cameras and cranes that go down a few thousand metres into the sea to film marine life that has never seen the sun before.

Awkwards string sounds appear from out of the dark like those bizarre creatures that swim the deepest spheres of the ocean. The almost mystical notion of a giant beast of the seas, like Leviathan or the giant squid, lurking somewhere out of reach behind what is tangible, is transposed into the notion of something dark and unfathomable happening somewhere behind the sounds, not yet to be heard but probably breaking out at any minute. Tales like these still ring my mind and music like does so as well. Who doesn’t want to be a discoverer? An adventurer? Life on earth has so many secrets and depths to be explored still, and some of the most interesting are to be found in the dimension of sound.

Moreover, there is a special kind of beauty in these designs. It is hard to pin down where it comes from, mainly because in all these years I have failed to work out a basic, personal theory on aesthetics. On the plus side, this lack has kept open my interests in all directions and my mind open as well for all kinds of new sounds. And my mind keen on searching for them, even if it means getting on board of a submarine. Or something.

The tracks on „wetsound orchestra“ mainly consist of a basic beat, produced from various clicks, crackles and a soft bass drum sound, topped with glitches and some spheres. Most of them leave out a bass sound or a running minimal keyboard accompany for the reduced ambience of longish layers of keyboard sounds. I am always reluctant to name tracks as drones as long as a basic percussive rhythm is in the foreground, but there are quite some tracks on „wetsound orchestra“ that walk the fine line between a pulse and a rhythm. The mixes are basic but with a sufficient amount of subtlety and complexity. Glitch-electronica will forever carry the laurel of having introduced noise as a basic, non-disrupting part of its genre mix and the Spyweirdos play the polished noise pads with grace.