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mandag 6. november 2017

New Model - Pertubrato - Review

Music   is   a   living   thing.   It   is   always   in   motion, dancing   an   everlasting   ballad   of   action   and   reaction, a   tango   with   several   partners   from   all   cultures.   And then   there   is   Perturbator.   The   Apache,   one   of   the   most violent   and   sinister   dances,   in   a   dark,   humid   room with   a   concrete   floor   and   subwoofers   that   could   make your   brain   melt.
This   French   band   may   be   best   known   as   one   of   the   two biggest   synthwave   band,   the   other   being   fellow Frenchies   Carpenter   Brut,   but   on   their   latest   album “New   Model”   they   go   far,   far   beyond   what   synthwave once   was.
Sure,   it   is   still   based   on   phat   analog   synths   but   it no   longer   bathes   in   ironic   old   B-movie   pastiche.   No, Perturbator   steps   from   80’s   into   2017   where   trap   is the   all   new   rage   and   they   incorporate   it   in   the opening   tracks   “Birth   of   the   New   Model”,   “Tactical Precision   Disarray”   (which   has   one   of   the   sickest drops   I’ve   ever   heard)   and   “Vantablack”.   Not   that   the band   follows   a   simple   formula   like   “just   replace   the EBM   beats   with   hi-hats   and   half   time   kicks”.   On   the contrary,   once   you   more   or   less   get   what   the   band   is doing,   they   have   already   moved   on   and   building   up   to something   different.   That   makes   the   tracks   not   only varied   but   also   exciting,   fresh   and,   depending   on whether   or   not   safewords   play   a   large   part   in   your bedroom,   sexy.
It   is   not   until   the   fourth   track   “Tainted   Empire”   that we   more   or   less   go   back   to   more   traditional   synthwave. More   or   less.   The   harsh   EBM   sounds   are   back   but   the piece   still   flirts   with   dubstep   and   trap.
“Corrupted   By   Design”   is   a   bit   of   a   breather. Relatively   speaking   of   course,   the   beats   remain  every

bit   as   punchy   as   in   the   beginning   of   the   album   but   the band   is   taking   it   easier   with   basslines   and   effects. Closing   track   “God   Complex”   is   a   track   worthy   of   its title.   Clocking   in   at   almost   10   minutes,   this   is   an epic   wave   saga   that   could   tell   a   story   of   a dehumanised   society   where   men   and   machine   are   so intertwined   that   it   becomes   a   challenge   to   distinguish one   from   the   other,   one   fuels   the   other   becoming   more than   the   sum   of   the   parts   (wait,   did   I   just   summarise “Ghost   in   the   Shell”?).
In   the   34   minutes   that   it   takes   to   sit   through   “New Model”,   Perturbator   not   only   deliver   an   intricate   dark piece   of   art   but   also   demonstrate   that   a)   it   is possible   to   thrive   on   more   than   just   nostalgia   without radically   changing   artistic   course   and   b)   ironically enough   teach   the   rest   of   the   competition   a   lesson   in appropriating   new   elements   in   hard   style   music   without having   to   worry   about   “selling   out”   and   no   longer being   “trve   kvlt”.
- Ivo   VirusWithShoes   -
Think   you   can   dance   the   Apache   on   a   mix   of   EBM,   trap and   synthwave?   Find   out   here   at: https://perturbator.bandcamp.com/album/new-model

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