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(Shitkatapult /Stomp EQ)
Shitkatapult was originally founded by tech-punk virtuoso T. Raumschmiere (Marco Haas) and two years down the track in 2000, Sascha Ring a.k.a. Apparat jumped on board the katapult, and the two have been co-running the label ever since.
Apparat’s Duplex is the 41st release on the label and let me tell you now; it is one special album of 13 diverse IDM soundscapes. Apparat was in between finishing this alluring album and travelling through Mexico on an intimate vacation. In Apparat’s mind it was all planned of course, and the result is fittingly titled Duplex.
du·plex (d pl ks , dy -)
adj.
1. Twofold; double.
2. Having two apartments, divisions, or floors.
3. Relating to or being a single assembly of machinery having two identical units that are capable of operating simultaneously or independently.
4. Electronics. Of or relating to a communications mode, as in a telephone system, that provides simultaneous transmission and reception in both directions.
n.
1. A house divided into two living units or residences, usually having separate entrances.
2. Something, such as an apartment, that is duplex.
Listeners get thrown into the deep end of sound, from an eery repeated tone to scratchy insect-like hustle and bustle that are entwined with idiosyncratic beats and in some instances the soft vocal of Klas Yngborn.
The album starts off ‘Granular Bastard’, a soft chime that echoes and resonates in between clattering sound and a sharp dubby bass that turns and twists unpredictably. This unpredictability is what I find in most of the tracks on this Duplex ep, it is in constant movement. ‘Contradiction’ is a melancholy song that soothes with its slow vocals and beats that bounce of soft synth lines.
‘Steinholz’ is continues down the IDM path of unpredictable direction and sound, a cold atmosphere with warm ambient bass and distant horns and whistles. It is so hard to put such emotional sound into words… think insect-like scratches, underwater sounds, muffled bass and fast turns of travelling sound that seem to hit invisible barriers and make for other directions.
It is so hard for me to pick a “favourite” in this album like I do with most, each track invokes something different. I will however give special mention to ‘Negra Modelo’; the clarinet and saxophone sounds of this finale tune with the haunting Middle Eastern-like chopped vocal chants really put you in some sort of faraway desert land, the bottom heavy bass and subtle clicks and cuts fall naturally between the innate instrumental sounds. This is the beauty of Apparat’s work on this album, natural movement of acoustic and electronic sounds that take you places.
For more info on this artist and label go to www.apparat.net & www.shitkatapult.com
