Who loves a good synthesis lab? Well, there’s you and me, of course, but there’s also Italian-born, Berlin-based experimental ambient/techno/minimalist producer Andrea Taeggi (who you may know as part of the band Lumisokea or by his moniker Gondwana), who never could resist a good synthesizing. It seems that, in Taeggi’s ongoing quest to find Europe’s next great synthesis studio, he landed himself in Holland at the Willem-Twee Studios, where he promptly recorded the very first album made in those specific geographical coordinates. This new record is called Zimní Král, and it’s out September 1 on London label SM-LL.
But what good is a synthesis lab without repurposed mid-20th century gadgets? Approximately nothing, that’s what! Which is why it’s a relief to hear that Taeggi largely focused on Luciano Berio and Bruno Maderna’s Analog Computer — which had previously been used for flight simulation and as a measurement tool for civil and military purposes during the Cold War — to record the singular percussive sounds punctuating the album. The result is an LP of rhythmic contortions and chilly, desolate atmosphere that “explores cyclical, minimal and hypnotic concoctions.” If you’re the type that likes it when press copy tells you what to do, you could “think walls of subfrequencies, snappy rollercoasters of the mind, labyrinths in hyperspace & snakes eating their own tails” (as if I don’t already think about all that every day of my life).
Now you’re saying to me, “Wow, disembodied news writer, this all sounds great! But why is Europe keeping this all to themselves?” To which I say, “They’re not, and that’s a weird assumption to make!” In fact, you can listen to the opening track of Zimní Král, “Dinergy,” right now, as well as check out the entire album tracklisting, by scrolling on down to the bottom of this very news story! Eventually you may even be able to pre-order the record at SM-LL’s Bandcamp page! Results!
Zimní Král tracklisting:
01. Dinergy
02. Zeitlupe
03. Gylany
04. Qubit
05. Hygieia
06. Blazar