Kassel Jaeger – Le Lisse Et Le Strié [LTNC017]

Le Lisse et le Strié is a new work by french composer François J. Bonnet, released under his project name Kassel Jaeger. Based in Paris, Bonnet is the Director of INA GRM. He is also a writer and theoretician. Le Lisse et le Strié has been conceived as an exploration of the two antagonist concepts of “smooth” and “striated”, applied to the realm of electroacoustic sounds. If the “smooth” is linked to “nomos” as an open space of organic distribution, the “striated”, on the contrary, is associated to “logos”, as an enclosed space defined by a grid. Elaborating a dialogue between these aspects, Kassel Jaeger draws here an intermediary space where pulsations become textures and layers, and where rhythmic elements are found in the qualities and bodies of sounds instead of being functionnalised, pre-determined sound objects, abstracted and frozen onto a temporal grid. The concept of “striated” is made audible only through the sonic landscape it inhabits, like the stripes of the camouflage fur of wild animals only exist as such in the woods and long grass, disappearing into a potentially uselessness in a desert plain.

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Kassel Jaeger – Le Lisse Et Le Strié [LTNC017]

Martina Lussi – Diffusion Is A Force [LTNC016]

Martina Lussi’s second album fuses together disparate sound sources with a disorienting quality that reflects the modern climate of dispersion and distraction. The Lucerne, Switzerland- based sound artist released her debut album ‘Selected Ambient’ on Hallow Ground in 2017, and now comes to Latency with a bold new set of themes and processes. The range of tools at her disposal spans field recordings, processed instrumentation, synthesised elements and snatches of human expression. The guitar is a recurring figure, subjected to a variety of treatments from heavy, sustained distortion to clean, pealing notes. Elsewhere the sound of sports crowds and choral singing merge, and patient beds of drones and noise melt into the sounds of industry and mechanics. The track titles manifest as a compositional game of deception complete with innuendos, empty phrases and claims – flirtations with perfume names and ironic assertions. From the volatile geopolitical climate to the changing nature of music consumption in the face of streaming and digital access, ‘Diffusion is a Force’ is a reflection on fractured times where familiar modes and models change their meaning with the ever-quickening pace of communication.

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Martina Lussi – Diffusion Is A Force [LTNC016]

Madteo – Raveyard Shifts EP [LTNC005]

Given the quality of his eccentric, left-of-center productions, it’s rather surprising that this 12″ is Madteo’s first release since 2013. Predictably he’s in fine form for this Latency debut, dropping a trio of tracks that largely eschew dancefloor thrills in favour of crackly textures, woozy chords, experimental electronics and minimal-goes-leftfield rhythms. A-side “Irreconcilable Differences” sets the tone, layering fuzzy guitar touches and hushed melodies over a quietly pulsing rhythm track. “Hoodshedding” is crackly, hypnotic and out-there, sounding not unlike early Nicholas Jaar with a Madteo twist. Arguably best of all, though, is EP closer “Discomfort Zone”, which manages to be both dreamy and wholly unsettling in it’s’ pursuit of smacked-out IDM thrills.

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Madteo – Raveyard Shifts EP [LTNC005]

Innerspace Halflife – Post Industrial EP [LTNC001]

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Metallic sequences, hypnotic pulsations, groovy rhythms and deep raw chords. Innerspace Halflife delivers with this three tracks Ep an authentic piece of Chicago’s finest electronic music.

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Innerspace Halflife – Post Industrial EP [LTNC001]