Berlin-based electronic producer Robot Koch and film-maker Lukas Feigelfeld first collaborated back in 2011 when the latter directed the music video for the former’s track ‘Autodreams’, and two years on this latest 12†EP from Robot Koch offers up the accompanying soundtrack to Feigelfeld’s new 13 minute short film ‘Unpaved.’ With the visuals centring around a Pan-like forest spirit who decides (along with his dog) to leave the woods and confront urban civilisation, there’s plenty of comment here about the conflict between urban built-up space and natural environments. As you’d expect, Koch steers away from his usual electro extroversion in favour of considerably more contemplative moods. Indeed, title track ‘Unpaved’ lays out the heavy, expansive sense of atmosphere early on as a wash of swelling sub-bass pads gives way to a minimalist wander through faded ambient chords and trailing, ghostly strings, the occasional thudding bass drum rearing its head.
By contrast, ‘Sugar Owl’ gets far more playful, sending icy synth blips dancing against a backdrop of rumbling sub-bass and clicking hiphop kicks that suddenly get thrown through cavernous dub effects, while ‘Poder Del Perro’ conjures up images of decaying urban dystopia as eerie melancholy synths float against crunching hiphop beats, occasional fragments of sampled female vocals flickering through the speakers like ghosts. It’s ‘Calle Tierra’ though that offers up this EP’s most hushed and filmic moment, scattering delicate rolling piano keys against a spacious backdrop of subtle ambient drones and phased echoes of notes, in an offering that’s miles away from Koch’s ‘Death Star Droid’-era flexing electro styles. You can view the full video for Lukas Feigelfeld’s ‘Unpaved’ film below.
