Karamika is a relatively new undertaking but the men behind it have been honing their skills for quite a long time now. George Thompson and Gordon Pohl are no spring chicken indeed: Thompson is best known under his solo moniker of Black Merlin and also releases as Spectral Empire along with Brain Machine’s Kyle Martin; on the other hand, Pohl is member of Musiccargo and The Isolators, amongst other joint ventures.
Here we find the pair continuing their chaotic exploration of raw, obsessive kraut and industrial motifs. Roller-coasting arpeggios merge from molten circuits and automated percussions rain blows on hypertensive synth surfaces as a cascade of overheated staccato riffs gets drowned in various frequency baths. ‘Ton 13‘ – certainly the EP’s most accessible track – puts on a loop that’ll nestle deep in your mind with its fun-inducing 8-bit friendly aesthetics and easy-going groove.
"Like walking the last corridor to the big boss' dungeon in a vintage platform game, it'll leave you both excited to outdo your own egotistic self and afraid at getting back to the real world"
The droney ‘Ton 14‘ then takes on an intense and disquieting slab of stomping factory mechanics. Each kick rakes the floor from beneath, stirring your guts like a radiating run of high-voltage thunder strikes. The cogs and wheels of this nightmarish metronomic buzz saw groove slowly but surely fall into place, restlessly hitting you in the stomach like some early morning zombie punch-ball.
It’s music tailored for big rooms and the result shows; you end up feeling like a tiny grain of sand caught up in iron jaws. ‘Ton 15‘ casts off for a much more opaque downtempo drive, slowly taken by an overbid of white noise’y purring, lashing sounds and bleepy synth apostrophes. Like walking the last corridor to the big boss’ dungeon in a vintage platform game, it’ll leave you both excited to outdo your own egotistic self and afraid at getting back to the real world. Get strange.
BAU002 is out now, order a vinyl copy from Discus Throwers.
TRACKLIST
A. Ton 13
B1. Ton 14
B2. Ton 15