Ultratronics

Following a lengthy series of limited releases connected with his live performances and installations, ultratronics is Ryoji Ikedas first proper studio album since 2013s Supercodex, his last release for Raster-Noton before the label split back up into two separate entities. Like much of Ikedas work, the album explores themes related to data and physics, and it contains elaborately designed sequences of raw sine waves and rhythmically sculpted white noise. For an album that opens with an extremely high tonal frequency, it might be strange to describe ultratronics as one of Ikedas more accessible recordings, but theres clearly a sense of playfulness that makes his work stand apart from his colleagues. An oddly cute-sounding robot voice is present on several tracks, and while its garbled and scrambled on some of them, it narrates a counting sequence on the addictive glitch-pop tune "ultratronics 04." Ikedas music is remarkable in the way he balances clean, clinical textures with perfectly controlled noise bursts. Halfway through, ultratronics unexpectedly turns into an industrial album, channeling Front 242 and Skinny Puppy to incredible effect. This isnt unknown territory for Ikeda -- hes incorporating recordings dating back to 1989, and his 1995 debut, 1000 Fragments, similarly featured material from a decade earlier -- but hes never approached this sound as effectively, or thrillingly, as he does here. After the jittery mania of "ultratronics 08," "09" comes closer to Scorn territory, with monstrous bass and bludgeoning beats as well as explosive currents of feedback. The rest of the album doesnt get nearly as intense or heavy, instead applying rapidly skittering beats to spaceship drone, stripping down to just a faint mechanical heartbeat during the more atmospheric "ultratronics 15." All in all, ultratronics is easily one of Ikedas most engaging, exciting releases. ~ Paul Simpson