Kangding Ray – OR (Raster-Noton)

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Kangding Ray – OR (Raster-Noton)

With different meanings depending upon the language, OR (Gold in French, and an oft-used grammatical conjunction in English), is Kangding Ray’s third album, all of which have been released by the raster-noton label, a most eminently suitable home for his style. Now based in Berlin, the Frenchman mixes acoustic and digital elements into a punchy, razor-sharp production style that matches powerful syncopated beats with washy drones and subtle vocals. These days, it’s pretty much standard fare for artists to blend genres into new and thrilling shapes that reference the styles of yore, yet somehow end up sounding coherent and linear and curiously modern, Forest Swords is one who comes to mind. Whereas Forest Swords blends the garage skip with dusty Morricone guitars and a Joy Division intensity, Kangding Ray’s OR hints at the proto-industrial strangeness of Moebius and Beerbohm, the cold-world rhythms of EBM, powerful Monolake-esque drum arrangements and washy treated guitars of a host of post-rockers.

Appearing nearly half way through the album, the title track “or” is an anthemic mix of windswept synths, pointillist percussion, snapping finger clicks and a 80s flavoured synth melody courtesy of Ben Frost. “Pruitt Igoe (or version)” reminds me of an updated Nine Inch Nails as Magne Mostue’s intense-yet-whispered vocals add a menacing edge to a tune that sounds like it could take care of itself already. The slow-motion tectonic house of “Mirrors” could be a melding of late-period Swans with Andy Stott’s latest rhythmic deconstructions. The second half of the album veers towards washy synthesizers and atmospheric guitars that compliment the deep beats and rumbling, musty bass. “Leavaila Scheme” kicks straight into the swung tickity-tockity beat and adds layers of details; voices in a market, tense guitar feedback and truncated percussive treatments all contribute to the five minutes of pure head-nodding, glowering bliss. The slow burning atmospherics continue until the album’s closing track, “La Belle” with a subdued, almost modern classical feel to the introduction, the track manages to reference both Krautrock forebears like Conrad Schnitzler and Cluster and the crunchy digital modernism of Tim Hecker and Lawrence English. Add in the unhurried, stately beats and stereoscopic effects and the result is that OR is bound to have you clamouring for m(or)e.

Oliver Laing

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Music Obsessive / DJ / Reviewer - I've been on the path of the obsessive ear since forever! Currently based in Perth, you can check out some radio shows I host at http://www.rtrfm.com.au/presenters/Oliver%20Laing

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