After having reviewed Voices of the Lake last month, and gone through a roll call of Italian artists associated with the sound of which they are a part, I realized that there was one glaring omission. Thankfully I’m now able to rectify this by reviewing the latest release by another of the most prominent artists currently engaged in the crafting of modern primitive soundscapes, but this time he’s an American.
Yet another artist to have released on Prologue, but one who has also pioneered his sound on his own label Geophone, Mike Parker doubles as both an accomplished producer and DJ, not to mention his lecturing post in Fine Art at the State University of New York in Buffalo. What is more, like his already – mentioned peers he brings a certain rigour to his work that demands closer scrutiny. If there’s anything to distinguish his sound from the likes of Dozzy and Gigli, maybe there’s more of an abrasive edge to it, but there are trademark similarities.
You’ll struggle to find a more aptly-named track than ‘Polar Vortex’, with its undulating industrial hum which rockets across space and time. Likewise, ‘Spitting Electricity’ jabs and stabs with suppressed kinetic energy, throbbing throughout and teasing by virtue of never peaking.
‘Ice Fissure’ feels like a consolidation of what has gone before, and combines the best of both previous offerings, while sonically tweaking and cavorting with them.
Significant due to a preoccupation with the grander aspects of space and time, this release for Luke Slater’s label doesn’t in any real sense differ from the majority of Parker’s output. It does, however, consolidate his position as the foremost proponent of deep techno from across the pond, and is another step into the limelight from an artist who remained in the shadows for far too long.
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