KK Null + The Noiser — Self Titled

Monotype Records presents KK Null + The Noiser, a collaborative CD between Japan’s KK Null and France’s The Noiser. I’ve been quite an admirer of Kazuyuki Kishino’s KK Null project for some time now, especially the way he seamlessly weaves techno, noise, and beat oriented music. Julien Ottavi’s, The Noiser, is a project I’m less familiar with. To be honest I didn’t even realize that this was a collaborative project. I thought The Noiser was the title. Turns out that Ottavi is a long-running sound artist, poet, filmmaker and one of the founding members of the sound/artist collective, Apo33.

Released in 2013, this full-length CD offers 8 tracks of experimental music that blurs the lines between techno, industrial, and noise. All tracks are untitled, with the first 7 being relatively short in length, with an epic final piece that runs north of 25 minutes. Right out the gate we’re greeted with some ticking beats and heavy piano keys that meld into rapidly throbbing bass beats, glitchy winding gears, and Front 242-esque flourishes. Track 2 gets the head bobbing to rhythmic, dense beats before devolving into hectic noise detritus. Track 3 sounds almost tribal with eastern flavored drum beat that sounds similar to a mridanga. Track 4 is a brief interlude of erratically played piano keys and chimes. Track 5 has a real sci-fi synth vibe and sounds something like Daleks on the prowl. 3 more tracks roll by, incorporating an amalgamation of sounds presented in the previous tracks.

Track 8 is an epic ride through all the sounds I love in this free for all genre. Dense atmospherics, laser beam synth blasts, winding and sputtering electronics, rapidly thumping beats roll along with the sounds of xylophones, glitchy pops and bleeps, and some well-placed cut ups. Through the tracks mid-section we’re greeted to birds chirping and more dilapidated piano playing. Rolling synth parts, more cut-up bits, damaged beats, and a treasure trove of audible goodies pepper the rest of the piece. Great from start to finish.

Another exceptional album from KK Null with comrade in tow. Noiser indeed