Year: 2025
Label: Zoharum
And all of a sudden, we’re out of our depth once again. This happens every time with Zoharum’s promo batches. Sometimes it’s something wildly experimental, sometimes something extremely oddball. And this time around, it’s something far simpler: techno.
Techno is a genre of music we’ve never been into. It’s not like we actively dislike the music, it’s not just ever really tickled our fancy. In fact, just about the only other techno album we’ve listened to more in-depth is another Zoharum release, Sect7’s brilliant Obsessiveness (review). But let’s not let our dilettantism stop us!
Just like aforementioned Sect7, I don’t find this unappealing or repulsive at all. In fact, I do quite like Actually Not A Lifeparty. It consists of rather straightforward, rhythm driven tracks where the percussion and especially the pumping, pulsing bass dominates the soundscape. Melodies and musical harmonies are sparsely used in the background. This is all about a feverish beat. I can certainly see how this would fill a dance floor.
The sound of especially the bass synths is surprisingly rough, and packs a definite punch. I maybe wouldn’t go as far as call this abrasive, but there’s a certain energetic, aggressive edge to the sound. This is accentuated by the sharp, mechanic and cold sound. This sounds just as machinized and inorganic as it is.
Structurally and compositionally, this is pretty understated and minimalist stuff. The tracks power through without much in terms of evolution or progression. Instead, it’s the same, hypnotizing beat from pretty much start to finish. Sometimes HRV will give the listener a brief respite in the form of a short break, but soon the pumping beat will kick back in.
The most notable exception is the ambient-like outro of A12, which consists of static drones of synths and sparse modulations. It truly breaks the pattern, but not in a manner that would work against the album.
Considering what I wrote above about my lack of knowledge of techno, I won’t claim this is the best techno evurrrr or any such thing. Instead, I’ll admit to not really having much of a musical context to place this in outside of certain more danceable kinds of industrial – to which Actually Not A Lifeparty certainly is related – but still liking it. It’s not the greatest thing since sliced bread, but still a nice little half an hour romp of pumping electronics.
Only Death Is Real 