I’m sure by now the Raster-Noton crew have just about awoken after their 12th birthday celebrations the other night at the ICA, and are now…oh hang on, I’ve done this intro. Some may say that I recycle the same review over and over again, but I don’t tend to do it quite as blatantly as that. When you fashion something from such familiar parts, you have to do it in a way that seems fresh; something Byetone demonstrates only too well on Death of a Typographer.
Byetone, or Olaf Bender as his mum calls him, is of course one of the co-founders of the Raster-Noton label, with particular responsibility for the label’s sleek, minimal graphic design and fastidious attention to typographical detail. Hence, I suppose, the title to this album. But the album doesn’t represent a death in any musical sense; this all-too-rare solo release from Bender shows him to be in hale and hearty condition. The metronomic “Plastic Star (Session)” which formed the bulk of his set at the ICA gets the album quickly up to brisk marching pace. As an irresistible Kraftwerkian drive to an unreachable horizon, with its glitchy pulse built upon with sheets of Pan Sonic static, it sets standards of lushness and even danceability that the rest of the album thumbs its nose at. Elsewhere, Death of A Typographer is darker and sparser, although I do particularly enjoy the crackly Fennesz drone of “Capture This (I)”, which drifts into, and then gnaws away at the clicky rhythm of “Capture This (II)”. The album ends with a heartbeat beating away in an unlit and cavernous-sounding setting, dying out into echo and then silence.
Perhaps that title hints that Bender’s rediscovery of his musical persona is destined to come at the expense of his font-fiddling – which would hardly be a surprise if he got as much joy from creating the likes of “Plastic Star” as I get from listening to them. His ability to transform such familiar-sounding source materials into something which sounds so fresh and thrilling means that typography’s loss could be more than offset by impressive gains made elsewhere.
Death Of A Typographer is available now from Raster-Noton.
5 comments
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June 16, 2008 at 10:49 am
maeda
i’m addicted, with music, with concept, the story, design, all of it
July 4, 2008 at 10:21 pm
BlahBlahLifeSucks
Know what’s ridiculous? The lovely “crackly fennesz” drone is one of the presets from the Metaphysical Function generative ambient ensemble from Native Instrument’s “Reaktor,” from 2005, with absolutely no alteration other than some distortion. And I don’t mean creatively applied distortion. If you go boot up reaktor and load up the “suhnspot” preset (i believe I remember) you will hear *exactly* what is in “capture this.”
and the 2nd version of “capture this,” with the drumbeat? throwing a drumbeat and hihat over that preset is the first thing anyone ever does when they encounter it.
It’s a great sounding preset, so I’m not surprised it was used. I just was very suprised to encounter such lazy methodology coming from a release on the fairly prestigious Raster-Norton.
January 9, 2009 at 4:36 pm
acremonious pigeon
funny how nobody comments after someone tells the tale of the metaphysical preset.
January 9, 2009 at 5:06 pm
ventolyn
hahaha he is totally caught out for using that metaphysical funtion. Shameless to say the least, and he is not the first person to use it.’Intelec’ esquimoto?[not sure of the name] also uses the exact same preset .
I remember being reccomended byetone, and when i heard the preset i actually burst out laughing. Im the most novice amatuer producer and i still would not have the nerve to release a preset , especially getting it printed to cd/vinyl. I wonder what the hell he was thinking. Initially i thought he may of been ‘hans strobl’ the guy who actually did the sound design for the metaphysical….but no, its not him hahah.
I honestly hope this feedback reaches him.
January 9, 2009 at 5:08 pm
ventolyn
and also for something like this to released on raster noton, is a shame to the label!