CD Feature/ grkzgl: "esque"

There is something else going on here, something private and individual.

It will remain a point for dispute whether or not the 3’’ mini-CD is the “format of the gods”, as online-editor “moron” (name not changed by the editors) of the influential messageboard industrial.org so eloquently put it (the 7’’ single is pretty neat in my opinion as well). But there can be no doubt whatoever that “esque” was made in heaven.

The six pieces on this disc waste no time, the clock stops at almost exactly 19 minutes and yet they pass by in a hush, without hurry or haste. But then again, one was kind of inclined to expect something special from a musician who titled his project after a name for an imaginary cat, pressed a 7’’ EP in an edition of one copy and his first self-released album in a run of 10. “esque” is by no means a revolutionary work – these structures of crackling, cracking, creaking, clicking, locustive, hissing and snapping sounds, mumbling in riddles, suddenly appearing and disappearing, assemblying into rhythms and clusters of noise, whispering in the background or screaming in the limelight, slowing tonal movement down or pushing it forward, feeling familair and consoling or foreign and claustrophobic are no strangers to anyone with a more or less keen inerest in the clicks and cuts scene or the supposedly intelligent structures of a genre without appropriate title yet obvious heroes (Autechre). And still, there is something else going on here, something private and individual, something making this worthwhile not only as a short moment of pleasure but also of exploration. Grkzgl has no interest in stretching his pieces into aural landscapes or expanding their complexity to test his listeners’ IQ. Rather, these tracks are refined snapshots, detailed sketches and intense semblances, beginning right in the middle of the action and dissolving without long goodbyes. While techno, whether for the brain or the body, is about development, “esque” is about the moment.

The material could easily have been moulded into a full-length but it is extremely applaudable that Grkzgl has resisted the temptation. It is an open invitation for repeated listening and for approaching the music from different angles. At least for the duration of these 19 minutes, you can call a moron a wise man.

By Tobias Fischer

Homepage: grkzgl at Myspace
Homepage: Angle Records