When we spoke to Pattern Recognition Machines after the release of their second album Defunct a couple of years ago it was a modular and drums duo of percussionist Sam Price and electronic musician Vijay Thillaimuthu. They called their music ‘death jazz’, which seemed pretty apt, a unique collision of styles, from krautrock to jazz to experimental electronics. It was ridiculous, bombastic, and strangely intuitive. You can read our interview here.
They’ve since added Chloë Sobek on Violone & electronics and Robert Vincs on Woodwinds to their lineup, which has surprisingly not so much beefed up their sound but provided additional range. I’d call it death jazzier. Or maybe new weird death jazzier. Their new album, released by New Weird Australia is Monad, which is the 11th edition of their New Editions artist series, and its a pretty incredible listen, the woodwinds, electronics and drum kit dancing around each other and interweaving in all manner of weird and wonderful ways. It’s slightly demented but oh so satisfying.
This is what Price has to say about it:
“For me, the goal is to play with the materials directly, an almost extra-cultural approach and I think that, predominantly, that’s what I experience on this record.”
Monad is out now via New Weird Australia. You can find it here.
