Title: Forgotten on the other Side of the Tracks
Artist: Totakeke
Genre: Electronic
Release Date: 23rd September 2008
Label: Tympanik Audio
Album Review
Electronic sound wizard Frank Mokros aka TOTAKEKE returns with a companion release to his widely-praised second full-length album ‘Elekatota - The Other Side of the Tracks’, aptly named ‘Forgotten on the other Side of the Tracks’, comprising tracks from the two album sessions.
A noisy oscillation ascends from the aural nothingness into our world ‘Cry for Help’, it’s getting louder and louder over time, almost unbearable until it ebbs and gives way to a myriad of circulating atmospherics, guided by initially gentle hissing rhythms, drawing some other patterns out of the dark, merging with each other to create a tense rhythmic flow, reminisce of best old school electronics; sounds somewhat unpolished at times. ‘Left at the Station 1’, rests upon these strong shape-shifting rhythm compositions which are a trademark of TOTAKEKE. Gravitating basses dig deep into the earth’s core, binding crisp ambience layers and grainy beats into one astonishing track.
One’s literally thinking of the frozen sea in hell, when the icy soundscapes of ‘Plug me Back in’ , spread their cold breath after disturbing noises came from deep underground, filled with whispering voices. The bouncing, heavy beats after this tear everything apart, however they only last for a short while and retreat for the creation of an ambient nebula imbued with a sinister atmosphere, sinking into chaos with time - or so it seems. It’s only the start of a new chapter, dominated by a distorted and noisy rhythm orgy. ‘Jetee’ starts with deafening noises to drift into deep cinematic abysms full of dark-coloured textures afterwards. Glitchy rhythms appear, before the heavy beat comes in, which is equipping the track with quite a straight base as fluid melodies rain down from the skies.
It’s like gazing out the window into a cloudy, rainy and cold autumn day when I hear the washes of ‘The Past Remembered’ coming in. Its atmospheric depth is amazing. Mokros uses quite an excessive drum programming on this one, much faster and marked with heavy bass attacks for the most parts. It’s about halfway through the song when the melodies completely disappear for a while and everything’s focussing on the eclectic beat manoeuvres. The second ‘Left at the Station’ isn’t another variation of the first track; it’s revealing a different side to the listener’s. I’d say it’s much denser than its companion. The drum parts are being dominated by percussion, dosed with a potpourri of noises and background beats.
‘Pull The Plug on your Faith’ is nothing like the other tracks. Initially, it’s a mass of disturbing noises and frequencies he’s playing with to add some fidgety, extremely complicated rhythms later, suddenly disappearing to leave with another doze of frisky noises and sound bits. T like this track was an experimental playground. It’s the most experimental track anyway. Later on ambient textures emerge and another rhythm variation lends the track more structure for w while. Hard to get into this track, but amazing from a technical perspective! ‘Strangle(_d)’ has a recurring melodic theme that’s appearing in different forms throughout his track, while the rhythms maintain a straight flow. It’s even possible to dance to some parts.
Truth be told, I’m quite speechless about this one right now and don’t know exactly how to sum up this album correctly. Maybe it’s best to say that it’s easily beating most of its opponents in complex melodic and rhythmic industrial. At times I think it’s even surpassing ‘Elekatota’.
Tracklist
01. Cry for Help – 6:06
02. Left at the Station 1 – 5:43
03. Plug me back in – 5:00
04. Jetee – 7:24
05. The Things that disappear when I close my Eyes (RMX by Pandora's Black Book) – 3:00
06. The Past Remembered – 6:24
07. Dead Set on Living – 4:43
08. Left at the Station 2 – 3:58
09. Euthanasia – 7:44
10. Pull the Plug on your Faith – 5:05
11. Strangle (_d) – 5:52
12. The Things that disappear when I close my Eyes (Blindsided Mix by Lucidstatic) – 3:55
13. Left at the Station 3 (Remixed by Terrorfakt) – 5:06
Line-up
Frank Mokros – All Music, Production
Website
http://www.myspace.com/elekatota
Cover Picture
Rating
Music: 9
Sound: 9
Extras: -
Total: 9
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