Punktieren — Wear A Mask
Formed in 2009 by Dmitriy Krotevich (active since the early 2000s as a mainstream electronic music producer and later to branch out into all sorts of musical endeavours, including free-jazz and improv’) and Ilia Belorukov (a gifted multi-instrumentalist roaming the improv’, electro-acoustic and noise scenes and with a slew of collaborations under his belt despite his young age), St. Petersburg duo Punktieren sound unmistakably Russian in their approach and display the sort of refreshing left-field experimentation so in favour with their fellow compatriots – hardly a surprise given the background of their respective halves. With the use of such unlikely implements as an iPod, a portable game station, a funny little thing called a Tenori-on (a Japanese electronic instrument consisting of a hand-held screen made of LED switches that can be activated to create sounds and occasionally used by Björk or Gotan Project, amongst others) and some effect pedals, Dmitriy and Ilia manage to create music that sounds as remote as is sonically possible from the more conventional Korg wizardry so dear to industrial and ambient aficionados this side of a vodka bottle. The sheer sonic audacity on display throughout the four titles that the album is made of, though, more than makes up for the apparent lack of direction that will no doubt unsettle quite a few people at first listen and makes Punktieren most convincing proponents of the so-called laptop scene (without even using one, at that!).
This half-hour offering is available as a free download (www.twilightluggage.com) or on CD-R (for the old-fashioned sods among us that still believe in showing artists and labels some financial support) and comes recommended for those not afraid to expand their horizons or who sometimes mourn the lack of intellectual audacity of the more conventional industrial scene.