Uli Troyer | Nok
Mego | 3
'Nok' is the debut release by young Vienna based sound artist Uli Troyer, recently awarded an Honorary Mention at the Prix Ars Electronica 2000.
As Mego put it: "If there remains time between cooking and inviting friends for dinner, Uli works on soundtracks for imaginary cartoons using digital errors combining them with organic sounds and rhythms of the kitchen."
Clocking at 18 minutes in just six tracks Troyer exposes hyper-minimal glitch-rhythms that sound as though they've been wrenched from the internal workings of the lower reaches of the periodic table. Simply titled: 'Nok 1', 'Nok 2', etc., each track unfolds slowly with often skewed internal logics which suffer from slight distortions and mild damage.
'Nok 1' opens to the geiger clicks of acceptable levels of radiation intensifying steadily until the introduction of heavy uranium beats which pulse incessantly at dangerous levels. 'Nok 2' meanwhile sees the introduction of multi-layered beats each pursuing its own logical path, but all running contrary. Phasing in and out of sync the result is minimal glitch-funk: quiet but intensely captivating.
[CM]
