Recommended
Signal EP // Kondaktor
Label: Modal Analysis
Format: 12"
Release Date: 03/02/2014
Kondaktor recently described their latest release for Modal Analysis as very much a ‘family thing’ due to a close friendship with both Sawf & ANFS, whom have taken up remix duties on the ‘Signal’ EP. Whatever their personal relationships may be, it’s clear that both artists have a strong sense of what the Greek producer is about, the two remixes featured here being wonderfully complementary to the release as a whole.
Kondaktor’s noisey, brooding soundscapes make up the initial two tracks of the release, heavily processed field recordings calling to mind the work of an artist like Russell Haswell or the solo work of Deaf Centre’s Svarte Greiner. A droning wall of discordant fuzz occupies ‘Signal#1’, becoming increasingly abrasive as it progresses from its murky beginnings, as if some unknown horror, slowly surfacing from the depths.
Paranoid radio tuning sounds make up the basis of ‘Signal#2’, cutting in sharply above low-end rumblings and sporadically placed, ominous drones.
On the b-side, Athens based ANFS turns in an echoing, percussive recast of ‘Signal#1’ partially taming Kondaktor’s shuddering soundscapes with the introduction of sparsely placed industrial hits, calling to mind Samuel Kerridge’s recent album, A Fallen Empire.
Following this, Perc Trax regular Sawf also opts to inject rhythm into his remix of ‘Signal#2’, be it in a rather abstract sense. Boiling the original down to a jittering, crumpled bass riff, the track churns restlessly across six and a half minutes, vapourous atmospherics and and piercing hi-end easing in and out of the mix.
This latest release sees Modal Analysis explore more leftfield territory than they have perhaps done previously, the shift away dancefloor offerings making this a label I am very intrigued to watch the development of over 2014.
- Published
- Feb 2, 2014
- Credits
- Words by Theo Darton-Moore