Sunday, April 29, 2012

New : Mohn - s/t

Hi folks, back again after a week or two away from the action but I have plenty of new shit to rave about after some time well spent rummaging in the music shelves of cyberspace. First up is Mohn's selt-titled record which I think is their debut - I know nothing about these dudes, they might not even be dudes and there might only be one of them for that matter, I don't know how many people need to be involved to make intense electronica like this. Judging by the fact that all the song titles are in German I'm going to imagine that Mohn are two brooding pale-faced types from Berlin with zero social skills and poor diet. Kinda like Steve Albini circa 'Atomizer'. Their record isn't any more light-hearted than 80s Big Black either, it's a stark exhibition piece of slow-build electronica, slightly intimidating but highly accessible all the same. I was surfing between new releases the other day and the excepts I played off this one literally stopped me in my tracks - this shit is SUPERINTENSE. Most tracks clock in around the six minute mark and use the time wisely, employing slow-release pulses and sparse effects to envelop the listener - imagine a thin sliver of dark grey smoke exiting the speakers gradually until you look around and realise the room's full of lurching electronic fog. 'Mohn' reminds me walking round the sub-corridors of Templehof airport looking for my mate's rehearsal room a few years back, although if it had been playing at the time I think I might have shit myself and run away. Last year's überbitchin' 'Looping State of Mind' LP by Sweden's The Field was constructed with a similar blueprint to this but where he was aiming at subtle paths to euphoria, Mohn want to slow-cook you over over cold electronic light and leave you numbed and amazed. I'm loving this, especially the transcendant 'Ebertplatz 2020' which is the closest they get to a floorfiller, although the spooky vocal samples on 'Schwarzer Schwan' remind me of that Salem record from a year or two ago. If you like the more devious end of Aphex Twin (à la 'Come to Daddy', the sort of stuff he seems to use to deliberately alienate crowds) then you'll probably love this. I'm still wondering why they chose that name - it's probably a reference to some dead philospher dude but it just makes me think of Scottish football fans egging on their chosen team in the vein of 'MOHN RAITH ROVERS! GIES A FUCKIN GOAL YA WEE BEAUTY!'. On balance I think I'm happier in my continued ignorance of the world of Mohn, but in any case this LP is a stellar introdution to their universe.

Check out : the aforementioned 'Schwarzer Schwan' for hypnotic witch thrills and 'Ebertplatz 2020' for a devastating infiltration of the synapse.

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