It's been a long time since the 2002 release of Hrvatski's last electronic freakout, Swarm and Dither. In that time, Keith Fullerton-Whitman has been busier than a one-armed sushi chef trying to crank out tuna rolls for a gang of sumo wrestlers. After releasing several works under his own name (including last year's darkly textured Schöner Flußengel) and running his mail order website (as well as an interview for TMT), he's finally returning with another aggressive mish-mash of electronic blowouts. This time it's being released as the first disc on his new entschuldigen label. And it's a bloody ogre!
The title, Irrevocably Overdriven Break Freakout Megamix, accurately describes its contents. For starters, it's an album that contains a whopping 91 tracks, the longest of them clocking in at only 48 seconds. If this leaves you thinking what I originally thought, you're probably trying to figure out the significance behind this many songs. There really isn't a significant reason that I can think of, other than you'll soon find out it lends itself very well to those with short attention spans. You'll never hear someone call it tedious, that's for sure.
Because of the layout of the album, Irrevocably Overdriven plays out much differently than your average DJ/laptop mix. Imagine it more akin to changing the radio station every 20 seconds, or even hastily hitting the "next" button while your MP3 player is on shuffle. In that sense, it does a stellar job of replicating the fast-paced world we live in. With this quick of a song change, though, you'd expect it would be an utter mess. I guess it's supposed to be, but Whitman does a good job here of seamlessly conjoining the different styles and genres. In that sense, it's hard for me to believe that this was recorded live.
The funny thing about the progression of these songs is that before you know it, you're already on track 33. Just about every form of electronic music from the past 15 years is represented here. One moment you have knob-twisting noise, followed by a hip-hop break, and then a drum-n-bass explosion. But each is represented just enough so to not overkill the desired affect. The "overdriven" portion of the title seems to come into play several times over the course of the set. I had hoped that it wasn't my headphones blowing, and then I realized this was the intent.
All in all, if I had to compare Irrevocably Overdriven to anything, I'd say it's closest to some of Squarepusher's best work. It wouldn't even be too unrealistic to say it's in the same vein as Aphex Twin. These might be bold statements, but if Keith Fullerton-Whitman hasn't already reached the level of these two musicians, he soon will. There's simply no denying the fact that he has his act together when it comes to capturing fascinating sounds. Whether he's recording birds from his front porch, subways in Massachusetts, or the sound of a microphone scraping across piano strings, you can rest assured that you're going to get your money's worth when purchasing one of his albums. This release is no exception, and is a very welcome addition to his already impressive (and diverse) catalog.
1. Untitled Tracks 1 - 91
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