T++, Wireless

[Honest Jon’s Records]


Buy Vinyl
Buy MP3s

I like and respect Torsten Pröfrock plenty, but I must admit: for the last half-decade that he’s spent slowly building his discography as T++, I’ve never been able to fully sink my teeth into his music. Fusing everything Moritz Von Oswald’s ever touched with the intensity of U.K. hardcore and the studiousness of IDM, Pröfrock brought a lot of my interests under one roof on his records as Erosion and myriad remixes, but I always felt strangely removed from the results, like they were presented from behind a thick wall of glass. With T++, techno and bass and even Wire-devouring experimental music heads could find plenty of beats, but I for one could have done with a smidge less science.

On Wireless, purportedly Pröfrock’s final T++ collection, the producer — long recalling a chemist or perhaps nuclear physicist — seems to have moved his operation to a biology lab, if not a roadside barbecue pit. While most T++ remixes have sought to expand on a producer’s implied techniness to the point that they boil over with it, this set — reworkings of 78-rpm recordings unearthed by Honest Jon’s of East African ndingidi (single string fiddle) player Ssekinomu — places T++ and his source material on a long, saucy simmer. Talking about any of these four sides individually seems almost futile: “Cropped,” “Anyi,” “Voice No Bodies,” and “Dig” all similarly pit those familiar ping-ponging rhythms and grinding sonics with a dissonant sultriness that’s been missing not just from T++ but from so much of what toes the line between techno and dubstep.

Ever since Villalobos let punchy Balkan horns ride over drums for half an hour on Fizheuer Zieheuer in 2006, world music has been a jumping-off point for so much house and techno; too often, producers seem to have done little more than smooth out their source material in Ableton and slap it over a Cadenza preset. But these samples sound like they melded with Pröfrock’s studio magic through fermentation, or like they share flesh and a heartbeat; it’s next to impossible to ferret out where Ssekinomu ends and T++ begins. Sinister in mood but balled up in enough loamy warmth to be approachable, Wireless finds Pröfrock simultaneously transitioning as an artist and making the most original and distinctive music of his career. I never thought I’d say this about a T++ release, but here it is: you’ll want to get your hands dirty.

chris e.  on June 3, 2010 at 12:47 PM

Jordan, your last two reviews were both sent to me in my last vinyl order. Clearly I’m doing something right when it comes to selection.

Thanks for the reviews. As someone who tends to live in his own techno-bubble, it’s great to get a counterpoint.

mark  on June 3, 2010 at 1:37 PM

I’ve always found T++ a bit tricky as well. Was planning on letting this album pass by based on the initial samples, but everytime I hear full length clips it sounds fucking ace. WANT.

Steve Kerr  on June 3, 2010 at 2:38 PM

i think this is his pinnacle too…and i think what you’re saying about profrock being sort of detached is interesting, because i’ve felt the same way. usually i have to hear the t++ stuff in the flow of a mix; it sounds flat and too studied by itself (i’m not sure i’d say that about erosion though). ‘wireless’ definitely stands on its own.

Trackbacks

Tweets that mention T++, Wireless – Little White Earbuds -- Topsy.com  on June 3, 2010 at 10:59 AM

[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Little White Earbuds, ImaHouseGroupie. ImaHouseGroupie said: T++, Wireless: [Honest Jon's] (buy vinyl) (buy mp3s) I like and respect Torsten Pröfrock plenty, but I must admit… http://bit.ly/a5nBLW […]

Skumrask  on June 5, 2010 at 2:28 AM

[…] av Ghost Rider. Men Hell fuskade genom att faktiskt använda Alan Vega pÃ¥ nÃ¥gra spÃ¥r. T++ gör det bÃ¥de bättre och helt pÃ¥ egen […]

Popular posts in review

  • None found