It’s been a good four years since New York-based electronic producer Frank Mokros released his debut album as Totakeke “At The Train Station On A Saturday Evening’ on Frozen Empire Media, but in the meantime he’ certainly been somewhat occupied with his alter ego Synth-Etik, culminating in the release of his “Phantom’ album under that moniker last year through German label Hands Productions. Following on the heels of recent remixes for Terrorfakt and Klangstabil, this second album “Elekatota’ on Chicago-based label Typanik Audio sees Mokros continuing to successfully blend seemingly disparate elements of industrial, techno, breakcore and dark ambient IDM into one cohesive whole that he himself terms “complex rhythmic industrial.’ It’s certainly something of an expansive offering too, running in at 13 tracks over a bulging 73 minutes. While many other similar producers would struggle however to successfully fill such a broad canvas, Mokros’ divergent explorations manage to stay consistently intriguing and inspired.
Opening track “Elekatota One’ slowly guides proceedings in with slow fractured IDM rhythms crackling their way beneath a foreboding backdrop of phased droning textures and manic 8-bit synths that betray more than a hint of rave lurking below the surface, shortly before “Carrier Signal’ flexes some additional rhythmic muscle, sending volleys of breakcore dnb rhythms sliding out across a forlorn backing of ambient synth pads in an offering that beautifully maintains its overriding calm in the eye of the storm. Elsewhere, “Ignorance’ sees techno kickdrums rising as a steady pulse beneath dark ambient pads and tearing chunks of digitally processed noise, in a moment that sees ghostly acid 303s making an appearance towards the very end, before the spellbinding “Power Of Ideas’ stretches head-scrambling bursts of Squarepusher-esque drill and bass amidst a vast backdrop of wavering pads, only for things to fuse tightly back around a crisp techno kickdrum pulse and bursts of acid squelch as things power relentlessly to their conclusion. Fans of dark, industrially-tinged electronics along the lines of the Ad Noiseam and Ant-Zen labels should definitely investigate “Elekatota.’
