Release Date: July 12, 2011
French native, David Letellier, better known as Kangding Ray, has crafted another melodically creepy album released on German electro label Raster-Noton with too much intensity to handle. Well, almost.
Eerily layered synth beats dance around heart-pounding bass lines and repetitive loops of distortion blend into the heavily textured, OR, a colder follow-up to Automne Fold, released in 2008, and Stabil in 2006.
Through mixing real guitar lines and drum beats with machines, the now Berlin-based Kangding Ray creates an atmospheric soundtrack with depth and darkness that will challenge the eardrums in any case. To the electronic virgin or the seasoned veteran, OR is strangely addictive.
Like a sci-fi thriller, Kangding Ray adventures through the psyche with ups and downs, side-to-sides and turns every which-way to confuse and stimulate. Does it work? Well, yes. The intrigue is taunting; as if the brain is baffled and in need of resolution.
In the opening track, “Athem,” Letellier is a minimalist-turned-electro guru as the track expands through clicks, glitches and hauntingly sparse lyrics. Depth is added through arrhythmic sound bites layered precisely atop one another.
With influences of jazz, dub step and noise-rock, Kangding Ray finds ways to blend music into a genre seemingly his own.
By using his extroverted political stances, emotion is created in what is usually known as an emotionless genre. In past compositions, KR has protested against expansion of nuclear reprocessing plants, strived for immigrant rights and contributed to memorial events. Unlike most electronic musicians featured by Raster-Noton, Kangding Ray coats his synthesizer with thoughts of cultural struggle.
This is not music to listen to on a sunny day. The beats pulse through your veins, just aching to come out. Kangding Ray is a genius in this sort. He insures that his listeners don’t just listen to the music; it becomes a soundtrack.
Kangding Ray – OR Tracklist:
- “Athem”
- “Mojave”
- “Odd Sympathy”
- “Pruitt Igoe (Or Version)”
- “Or”
- “Mirrors”
- “Coracoid Process”
- “En Amaryllis Jour”
- “Leavailia Scheme”
- “Monsters”
- “La Belle”
