Kabutogani — Bektop
The opening track is under two minutes and begins with some pleasurable buzzing that evolves into a harsh rhythmic rumble. The way the track is composed it has that opening track feel, and as the disc moves onto more instantly gratifying textures it becomes laced with glitched rhythm and melody. In the second track the mood shifts into a more tragic atmosphere with haunted background style music and minimal click & cut style rhythms that make the focus of the track the melodic instrumentals, but comes full circle in the third to the stark and murky atmosphere of the opening track.
Upon entering the fourth track the disc seems to abandon the previously established momentum and derails into a new cycle of textures. The only rhythm heard in this section is from the glitches and to my ear appear to be forming a tribal rhythm, but the background remains monotonous throughout.
However this transition quickly turns back into more focused clicks in the fifth track with once again melodic background to support the up till now tenebrous atmosphere. The track positively overwhelms with a grimey click & cut beat that is faster tempo and emotively chilled out. The following tracks continue in their own variation of this fashion up until the eighth track which immediately causes the rhythm to cease and transcend into atmospheres more distant and hollow, but flowing with ghostly presence.
Moving onto the final tracks of this album we find that again the mood has changed and this time there is a detectable industrial feel to the remaining tracks. A lot of slow moving textures with minimal clicks focused around emptiness and its melody remains in the background. A hint of spacey synthesized tones weave in and out, but inherently, this shifting of emotions, atmospheres and rhythm has all seemed to lead up to the final stages of this album. The longest track on the album closes out Bektop with a highly focused combination of every element presented in the past 11 tracks. The same way this album evolves is reflected in the final track and it closes out beautifully with the same dreamy musical atmosphere that appeared in at least three other tracks from the album.
There is a lot more that can be said about this album and the interpretation is from my own perspective. I rarely get the opportunity to listen to glitch/cut & click that I thoroughly enjoyed, but in my opinion this album had a sort of universal appeal for fans of electronic and experimental music. The Mille Platuex site is down at the moment, but you can still find information on this great release through their temporary blog.
http://milleplateaux1.wordpress.com/