"Invest in Rest is an especially vinyl-appropriate record, perhaps in part due to markmechanik’s plunderphonic style, or maybe it’s an artefact of him being a vinyl head."
The Salzburg label vierundvierzig has been operating quietly for ten years, with many of its releases and artists also from Salzburg. They’re doing something real and have been doing it for a while. A few years ago, vierundvierzig shared a DJ mix by markmechanik on YouTube. The production quality, the relaxing club scenery, the fat vape rips, and markmechanik’s fantastic curating are all reasons why I say this video is extremely underwatched.
19th-Century art historian Anna Jameson said, “What we earnestly aspire to be, that in some sense we are”, and on Invest in Rest, markmechanik truly becomes the mattress. I nearly dropped my coffee when I saw the back cover of this record jacket. Despite what the cheeky cover might have you believe, the album is front-to-back quality tunes.
In a way, that vierundvierzig mix foreshadows the direction of this release. markmechanik is, no doubt, a fantastic vinyl DJ. The mix opens with syncopated bass music and meanders through various house and techno passageways, circling back to bass at all the right moments. It really is an amazing mix, and the new record shares all these same sensibilities.
Invest in Rest is an especially vinyl-appropriate record, perhaps in part due to markmechanik’s plunderphonic style, or maybe it’s an artefact of him being a vinyl head. The productions have a sprinkling of dirt on them that makes everything feel like it was lifted from a vinyl record and transferred to the computer, and not the other way around.
I hate to use the cliché word “timeless”, but in terms of the totality of electronic music, this is one of those records you might label as such. There are moments on it that feel like 2026, but also some that feel like 2006 or even 1986.
The album’s opening two tracks are collage-like in their construction. Flamboyant and bombastic, they might serve as a warning shot for the undeserving. I tend to really like records that front load their more experimental parts.
In particular, “Acirfa” is an unlikely orchestration of different fabrics, with a bombastic male sample and a joyously florid female vocal call-and-response pairing sitting on top of the mix. Pan flute chord stabs steal some of the thunder. “a Little bit of recording” follows, again floating a vocal sample on top, this one sounding like a 1984-style comply-or-else loudspeaker message. Sound design nerds will get a lot of satisfaction out of the opening on this one.
You might think the record walks this path straight through, one where the arrangements are in service to the vocal samples, but this is where the record takes one of several sharp left turns. “Chord Expo” is the album’s first foray into crisply-rendered bass music, and probably the most overt example of this direction. markmechanik takes time to ride this one out, with the track being nearly twice as long as the first two pieces combined.
“Prosecco Jimmy” follows with much more subdued vocal elements than we’ve previously heard. Here, the dubby low end and the sampled kit take the lead. The track starts in a deconstructed state and builds itself up.
The latter half of the record is another left turn with early Eno and krautrock undertones. Still, it’s arguably less experimental than the first half, and it just feels satisfyingly good to listen to. Real staying power.
“1984” is the most compositionally dense of the tracks and is a complete tonal 180 from “Prosecco”, featuring layered kits, wonky subs, and hopeful keys. It’s probably one of the more laid-back, happy-go-lucky moments of the record. You can’t help but feel good listening to this.
“Buzzotech” is energetic, metronomic, and mechanical in its approach. The wavy synths that sit in the middle of the mix feel like a mirage. “Borderland” has slowly become my favourite track on the album. The bass sounds on here are really velvety and deep. It’s a strange cocktail of bass music, dub, and ‘90s television drama.
“Invest in Rest” is a real vision quest of a track. It’s like we’ve gotten to the final moments of the movie, and we must now go fight our demons once and for all, or at least I like to think it has that much gravitas to it. It’s a beatless track with a bassline that keeps tempo and gets the head bobbing, a fun space odyssey to throw in the middle of a mix.
I’m enamoured by how enjoyable this record is, and I can’t help but feel that vierundvierzig is Salzburg’s best-kept secret. It’s not the first time we’ve taken notice (2024’s fmrann8 by Mad Rider also shook us, making it on to our Best Albums of 2024 list), and it probably won’t be the last. markmechanik is one to watch.
Invest In Rest is out now via vierundvierzig. Buy vinyl from Inverted Audio Record Store.
TRACKLIST
A1. Acirfa
A2. a Little bit of recording
A3. Chord Expo
A4. Prosecco Jimmy
B1. 1984
B2. Buzzotech
B3. Borderland
B4. Invest in Rest