Robin Fox & Anthony Pateras
Antipodean maestros of realtime electroacoustics, Antony Pateras and Robin Fox follow-up their 2006 Editions Mego debut, Flux Compendium with an erratic album of gleeful computer noise and manipulated recordings. You may recall Pateras’ 2007 solo album Chasms on Sirr for its deft and discerning application of prepared piano and subtly morphed acoustic timbres, but this is a different prospect altogether, combining splattering, Hecker-like high-end synthesis (‘Whipped Silk’) with spacious dissections of concrete sound (as on the virtuosic, slapstick cut’n’paste of ‘You’re All Answers’). Sophisticated and avant-garde as the album tends to be, there’s no short supply of fun to be had; for all its pristine, technical execution, a track like ‘Apollonian Gasket’ exudes joy and kinetic energy, while ‘Lung Butter Blues’ adds an Henri Chopin-style vocal component, loaded with spluttered chaos and a punk-ish sense of confrontation. Brilliant.