Mazut — Dirt Collector

Dirt Collector is the seventh studio album from Warshall-based two-piece Mazut. Active since the mid-2010s, they create often sample dense/ at times sonically unbalancing retro-focused electronica. 

The CD/ digital release appears as a joint release from Rope Worm and Positive Regression. We’re reviewing the CD version- this is Ltd to just three hundred and thirty-three copies, and is rather neat, as it features a yellow card slip, with glossy black printing- with on the front, we have a drawing of two men- one standing in front of the other, the man behind is holding the others head in his two hands and this man man is opening his mouth. Also inside is another small card sleeve and a selection of glossy stickers. The album can be purchased directly here https://ropeworm.art/

The album features thirteen tracks in all, and these have runtimes between three and seven minutes. The pace of the album is largely upbeat, as well as being often decidedly disorienting. In its first half, we move from pulsing techno synths, crashing ‘n’ snapping beats, and wailing voiced samples of “Paranoid Park”. Through to the wonderful title “You Try To Make People Upset, But nobody gives a Fuck” with its lock Asian man chanting loop, stabbing retro synth,  and cluttering/hissing percussion.

In its second half, we move from woozy snapping beats, baying horns/ weird vocal yodelling, and generally deepening puzzlement of the aptly named “Shrouded In Obscurity”. There’s a ringing synth tone weave, taut beat hiss, and baying electro tone hit of “Force And Firm”. With the album playing out with “Eye” which is based around a forlorn/ sluggish synth horn melody,  several dialogue loops, including one particularly great one about a photographer.

As an album, I found  Dirt Collector very much of a grower, as at first many of the tracks felt overly dense/ busy- but over replays they’ve unlocked their depths, rewarding sample detail, and neat moments of unease/disorienting.