SaskieWoxi
An enigmatic artefact from Oswald Berthold (OST) and Florian Hecker, members of Farmers Manual, whose unutterably strange Explorers_We from 1998 continues to bewilder the unwary. Hecker's projects for Mego have involved a near nihilistic reductionism, records which challenge the listener to endure their inhuman tones. These Austrian laptop manipulating mischief makers have an agenda to scramble the linear constraints of a normal listenibg experience. SaskieWoxi is "a work that reflects the world and the way we experience it". Well, yes - if you experience the world mainly through a laptop's screen. Are CD_Slopper elitists? The package (with its cryptic sleeve) might be designed to alienate any non-initiates unprepared to hack through layers of digital camouflage. But there is a way past these hurdles. SaskieWoxi's full potential for disruption isn't realised through sedantary listening; rather, it's a portable consumer product for listeners with a mobile lifestyle, who rely on minituarised technology to feed slivers of sound into a busy schedule. Hecker and OST likewise operate within a high speed framework; they produced this during lucid intervals in their hectic programme, only ever meeting in the studio to graft together datafiles from incompatible computer platforms. But simply inserting this in your CD player may disappoint at first. Its 44 tracks are apparently indexed at random, the first ten simply variations on a monotonous sequenced rhythm. But twisted delights are on the way: insane digital noises, harsh sonic extremes, earsplitting high tones, bitter electric grunts and atomised samples leaping out of nowhere. Even more disconcerting are the sudden dropouts and unexpected silences. Pasting these violent dynamics onto a home environment is lethal: innocent passers-by fainted and my neighbour's dogs died. But this disconnected, skeletal nature allows new listening freedoms too. Indeed, they boast on the cover that this is a "computer rave attack!!!" and "new DJ tool!!!", suggesting a larger, interactive project. DJs should add its "fine rhythms" to their mixes; MP3 and Walkman users will reach Nirvana through the "high quality midrange sound". Further multimedia goodies (Java, ASCII and PIXX files, and numerous HTML links) flesh out this skeleton, concealed on the disc along with a health warning. The fragmented graphics, images and soundfiles might well jump together into a fabulous mosaic of digitised music and art, if I could only discover the right keystroke to activate it. - Ed Pinsent The Wire
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