KK Null — Atomik Disorder
First known for his guitarist talents in Zeni Geva, one of the most powerful trios of the world, Null also has a long history as electronicist. He has worked with artists as different as Keiji Haino, Seiichi Yamamoto, Fred Frith, Jim O’Rourke and Otomo Yoshihide. However, Atomik Disorder as more to do with the work of past collaborators in the vein of Merzbow, Masonna or James Plotkin.
Atomik Disorder mixes harsh noise and ambient, creating an atmosphere not very different from that of Guilty Connector und Tabata debut CD (review here). Atomik Disorder starts with a few digital blast, like someone bashing on tins before you find yourself in the middle of a space battle between some strange helicopter and hordes of green men with laser guns. The helicopter crashes down and some army drums kick in to celebrate victory. Track 3 is someone running on some floor made of metal while you can hear in the distance the sound of some crap Techno party. The “running man” is hunted down by people who are throwing irons bars at him. Track 4 is more relaxed and feels like life in a spacecraft. On track 5, you get the closest you’ll ever come to a musical theme thanks to floating in spaces sounds coming straight from an early computer pop music album. Track 7 is on the noise side, with a really industrial feel to it: a factory making robots? Track 8 is ambient, with loads of sounds floating around. It doesn’t make you feel good or at home, it conveys a vibe of weirdness, of being in a pleasant but unusual situation. Track 9 is like speaking to a defective R2D2: he sounds way better than he does when everything works just fine…
Not everything on this album is great. Actually, I can’t really say “this track is bad and this one is good). If you were to pick up this album, it should only be because you like KK Null or because the description I made sounds cool to you. Atomik Disorder certainly is of some interest, but it’s difficult to really evaluate its merits…