A while ago I reviewed another work of Sorin Paun’s, one released under his Randomform name. Essentially I described it as being technically proficient but somewhat alienating to anyone who doesn’t have a producer level grasp of what he’s trying to do. Clearly he took that statement as a challenge because Datacrashrobot takes any humanity that might be lurking in his music and deftly crushes it between steely robot fingers.
“Dissasembler” (or “Dissembler” as it might more commonly be spelt) is about as far from the average human concept of music as it is possible to be. Relying on a mid-paced electro beat to underpin it, most of the songs are a baffling array of percussive noises, clicks, pops all processed into oblivion. There is not one single melody to be found, nor is there a conventional instrument sound. There are only the occasional recognizable synth sounds and once a tiny, disembodied voice says something like “This proves that machines mean humans are no longer necessary”.
I love cold, hard, alien music. I love experimental music and I love pushing boundaries but I also love music. I have spent many hours of my life arguing with people that the screeching, whining deafening racket I happen to be listening to IS music but for one of the first times in my life I ‘m not sure if this album qualifies as music. There’s no doubt it hs high kinetic energy and it would make an excellent accompanying album to smash robot to and it would make an excellent soundtrack to a film or art installation but as a purist listening experience it’s too harsh and too minimal.
