EMS Hallucinations

Chicago-based electronic musician Brett Naucke assembled his album EMS Hallucinations from several hours of recordings he made during a week-long residency at the prestigious Elektronmusikstudion in Stockholm at the beginning of May 2019. Given the opportunity to explore the rare Buchla 200 Series and Serge Modular systems at length, he captured sounds, textures, and rhythms informed by the spirit of electronic musics early, academic trailblazers as well as the outer limits of dance music. The first half of the release focuses entirely on the Buchla 200, and it begins as a montage of cavernous dripping and hypnotic swirling before landing on a taut, rapidly bubbling sequence which never quite repeats itself. Careening delay effects and frosty melodies accumulate, eventually detaching and beaming skyward. Mesmerizing bass patterns take shape, launching additional cosmic explorations, approaching Klaus Schulze territory during one riveting section. The albums second half incorporates both Buchla and Serge synths, and its much denser, deeper, and more hypnotic. The initial sounds are both alien and insectoid, eerily resembling voices struggling to call out from the circuits. Multiple waves then converge, beaming outwards and conducting a search for higher intelligence. The most aggressive section of the album rumbles and drones like Throbbing Gristle circa The Second Annual Report before drifting into a more electro-acoustic passage, with rapidly shifting tones resembling woodwind instruments caught up in a magnetic tape whirlpool. Naucke manages to uncover an array of tones which are both tactile and spacy, and he arranges them into a tense, thrilling narrative. ~ Paul Simpson