Scholl — Angesichts Konstanter
The physical version of the release is rather classy- with the black printed silver cassette coming in a foldout black card sleeve- this features screen printed dull silver inks, and we get a separate download inlay paper. The whole thing very much reminded me of the kind of neat & arty looking releases Phage Tapes puts out. This release appeared in September of last year- coming in an edition of twenty-five copies, and as of this review, the label still has a few copies available.
Scholl is one of the more recent projects from highly talented US noise maker Peter Keller- of Geißt, Condo Horro, Dirac Sea, Bacillus, etc. And Angesichts Konstanter is the project's debut release.
By ‘wall’ standards the six tracks here are fairly short- running between eight & ten minutes apiece. Kicking proceedings off we have “No One Loves More Than The One That Dies For Friends”- here we find a buried-yet constantly pulsing/ stabbing bass line, this is topped by an extremely tight & rapid blend of cluttering-to-chopping static texturing. The way Keller brings together the elements is most entrancing- the bass line bounds out barren numbness, while the noise elements are crisp and nicely defined in their attack.
As we move into the tape we get to the wonderfully titled “Wilting, Falling, Scattered To The Winds” this sees a slurred & purring bass haze throb, and on top of this we find a blunt & slightly hiss focused juddering noise elements, and looser clutter churn- all creating a vibe akin to been stuck in the heating system of a rundown nightclub on downers. “Es War Ein Bewökter Tag In München” flips the pace back-up with a locked jackhammer beat, juddering slight groove bound persistent hack, and looping weaves of crackle bound static. And the release finishers with the decidedly manic, dizzying-yet murky “Schallwiderstand “ which finds a rapid & squiggling electro jitter, stretched pulsing hack, and static cluttering.
Really anything connected Mr. Keller is always worthy, creative & distinct- as he puts a lot of thought into each of his projects sound to make sure they are very different in both sound/ theme from his already active projects. With Angesichts Konstanter he makes a great opening statement, and I can certainly see this appealing to those who enjoyed the more condensed pulse electronics & hollowed-out/ sparse electronica of some of Julien Skrobek projects.