Release of the Day: Human Particle - Place of Irony: Expectation and Memory

There's no such thing as a bad music genre. Generally what happens is that the most visible artists in a genre will ruin it for outsiders: someone will say "I like everything but country," where they mean "I actually like everything, but I really hate that Alan Jackson song about 9/11 where he admits to not being able to tell the difference between 'Iraq' and 'Iran' and because of that I won't listen to country." Even I've been at fault for at one time dismissing techno because of the proliferation of dubstep and EDM by soulless musicians only in it for capital gain. I personally have trouble with enjoying top 40 because I automatically think that the people who sing or perform are just talentless figureheads - the songwriting happens behind the scene by commissioned "hit-writers" and that sort of conversion from art to commodity just doesn't sit well with me. That's how mainstream electronica seems to me, and the reality is that every genre does the same thing.

So let's talk about Human Particle's Place of Irony: Expectation and Memory, the new 5-track album from the duo of John and Sam Bosson from Los Angeles. Human Particle makes atmospheric techno with an undercurrent of dark ambient. The dark ambient feel comes to me when I hear both the gently churning foundation of synthwork and the subtle reverb dotted throughout the cassette, but in terms of rhythm, this is techno. Unlike the gimmicky whirligigs of modern techno, though, Human Particle demonstrates its expertise in tasteful minimalism. You won't hear unnecessary soundbytes and over-the-top sirens, which is more than a little welcome if you ask me. It's straightforward, engaging, and dance-worthy.

This cassette is one out of five in a recent batch from Ascetic House and I picked it up from the gang the last time they were through Chicago. Your best bet now if you want a cassette is probably to order a distributed copy from Chondritic Sound. If you've liked the more techno-influenced stuff out of Ascetic House like Jock Club, Soren, Memoryman, or Deep Pill, you'll like this for sure.

Here's a full stream!

Release of the Day: Alberich - NATO Uniformen

Alberich's NATO-Uniformen was originally released as a set of eight cassettes in an edition of 50 on Hospital Productions. It's findable online, but those cassette sets are few and far between and expensive to boot if you manage to find one. A set has sold for $300 on Discogs. Lucky for those of us who slept on the original set, Hospital has reissued it as a somewhat abridged 2 x LP in two editions: 250 white vinyl and 450 black vinyl. While there were 30 songs in the original set, this 2 x LP contains 19. In my opinion, it's a bit of a tour de force, and an expansive overview of much of what falls into the Industrial genre.

Obviously, Alberich is most widely described as a power electronics project, but NATO-Uniformen is more varied. That's not to say that there isn't straight power electronics here with rhythmic crunch, feedback, and distorted vocals, because there is. It's just that Kris Lapke also likes to throw in surprises, like a strangely danceable drumbeat at one point or a piece that might be more in the vein of dark ambient. This variety stops the album from becoming monotonous, which is the easiest pitfall for an industrial record.

If you're in Chicago, I know that Reckless gets stuff from Hospital, but other than that, I think you're best bet is to order online, and I'm not sure how you can get the white vinyl in the states. I know Heaven Street got the black vinyl and if Sean didn't get the white ones, then I don't know who did. I had to order my copy from Europe actually, but I'm collector scum so that's what I get.

Below is a full album stream.