Electronic music follows a very vicious cycle. Whenever a new technology or movement surfaces, there’s about a three to five year window before it becomes tawdry and embarrassing. A decade ago, when IDM and drum n’ bass were fads, it was new wave. Anything remotely resembling a Casio or Depeche Mode dancefloor hit was off limits to all those making serious art come out of their speakers. Now the times have changed yet again as new coldwave outfits are appropriating all things 80s and electric. Any track made with an Aphex Twin snare rush or jungle break-beat now makes you cringe hard – especially when heard in a car commercial or action movie car chase sequence. I fear that noise music and power electronics have suffered a similar fate and should also be lumped in the realm of the outdated. I don’t know what the next serious form of electronic music currently is, but suffice it to say that there’ll be only a few years before it too is eaten away by the obsolete cultural nature of the keyboard.
In this unforgiving framework, we find Pasto Cranico (IT). Released on an Italian noise label, albeit a broadminded one, Pasto Cranico plays IDM almost exclusively. I can certainly sympathize. I too was an avid fan and once saw any new Autechre album as a bold evolution in the history of electronic music. But as the times changed, so did my naïve and narrow taste. “Cancrena” stubbornly resists any change at all and clings to the over-processed effects, DSPs, complex syncopated rhythms, and haunting ambient melodies that were the staple of Autechre and other bands on Warp Records during the late 90s, early 00s.
This isn’t really a problem in itself. “Cancrena” could be a great experimental work even with its IDM flag waving. In fact, I would love to see more individuals exploring underground genres from the 90s. But the key is to make new melodies and visions out of the old suits, i.e., actually compelling music. Pasto Cranico, unfortunately, cannot pull it off. Most of “Cancrena” simply sounds like a lost Autechre album – especially from the “Draft 7.30” era. Worse, its music is often trancelike and pretty boring. The first few tracks are simply effects being processed over and over – relishing in that feeling of extreme production wizardry. There are a few moments where Pasto Cranico does create a successfully reflective and haunting mood – the flangers, phasers, and beats on “We Have Nothing to Hide” and “Under Control” certainly evoke a wildly disturbing feeling for me. And to be fair, after track seven, there is an effort to try and break the basic mold of IDM by adding in ambient and noise elements. But this was also a strategy employed on Aphex Twin and Autechre albums anyway. Perhaps, when the wheel of cultural relevancy turns again and electronic genres from the 90s are seriously recycled, Pasto Cranico will suddenly sound relevant and artfully retro. But right now, both the mores of today and the music itself prevent me from enjoying the album.
Rating: 2/5
Journalist Name: Pomo Brian
Label: Monstres par Exces / Format: Cdr / Cat. #: MPE8821
Track listing:
01 – Pancreatic Fistula
02 – Ignorance
03 – Nurse Without Wound
04 – Lobotomie
05 – We Have Nothing to Hide
06 – Under Control
07 – Pancreatic Fisting
08 – Voltak
