Can I be serious for a moment? I don’t “get” what the big deal is with computers. Computers are not trustworthy, their processing power scares me, and I avoid using them whenever possible. Even now, you’re only reading this news story because I hand-wrote it out on a roll of toilet paper, which was then delivered via carrier pigeon to Tiny Mix Tapes headquarters, located in scenic Parts Unknown, where an intrepid, unpaid intern inputs and submits everything for me.
For Claude Speeed (the third “e” means he’s serious) however, computers are a gateway, a means to communicate abstract thoughts and feelings through music. On Infinity Ultra, his second full-length album, the Scotland-born/Berlin-based artist draws inspiration from the likes of abandoned places, sleep paralysis, and children’s anime to create electronic music that is droning, euphoric, monolithic, and towering all at the same time. Or, as Claude Speeed himself more elegantly puts it, Infinity Ultra is his way of, “conceiving an interior territory: an abstract space to process the oppression, confusion and insanity of the contemporary age; and to formulate an honest emotional and artistic response — a psychic jumping off point into an uncertain future.” (Told you he was serious.)
Infinity Ultra is out July 14 via Planet Mu. You can pre-order the album in all the glorious, modern formats you can imagine here, and can listen to album track “Fifth Fortress,” down below. Since I’m still being serious, I feel like I have to admit that my dog was a little skeptical of “Fifth Fortress.” But then again, he also barks at statues of Jesus, so take his opinion with a grain of digital salt — and enjoy!
Infinity Ultra tracklisting:
01. BCCCC
02. Serra
03. Windows 95
04. Ambien Rave
05. Alternate Histories (ft. Kuedo)
06. Moonchord Supermagic
07. 800 Super NYC
08. XY Autostream
09. Fifth Fortress
10. VZJD
11. Entering The Zone
12. Center Tech
13. Spirits
14. Contact
15. Dreamdream