The manifestation of nihilism in music is often fascinating. In many cases, it tends to take the form of abstraction through a process of some sort whether it be the monolithic HNW of Vomir, the nearly inaudible orchestrations of Manfred Werder, or the towering sine waves of Sachiko M.
Ian M. Fraser’s music seems to embody this concept through its use of “hard hitting, non-linear equation synthesis heavy algorithmic noise.” Essentially, Fraser’s work is often constructed using algorithmic programming that allows a constantly changing process occur without human intervention (except for his expert editing of sounds). In many cases, these types of processes often result in minimalistic work but Fraser’s compositions explode with gesture and chaos instead of stasis. The two pieces on The Realness are disorienting and immersive in a way that so few digital noise records are. “Parallels” is all high frequency and in the red rhythmic rumble-there are times you can sense a rhythmic process taking form but it’s quickly disrupted and reformed in front of you. “Worf Gets Denied(Again and Again…) is somehow even more explosive and at times sounds like someone ran the best sections of Whitehouse’s “Cruise” through one of John Wiese’s old Max patches. Both works effectively illustrate that Fraser is creating a new and exciting nihilistic noise that reconfigures the role of process in it’s impeccable construction.
The Realness is out now via Fraser’s Bandcamp. You can stream the album in its entirety below:
• Ian Fraser https://www.ianmfraser.bandcamp.com
