Boris Divider – Deflector|Atractor
Who is Boris Divider and what is Fundamental Records? Well, to have a go: proud flag bearers of Spanish electro. From what I know about Boris Divider, he runs a label called Drivecom, which, like Divider, dances to its own snappy, crackling analogue beat. He released a mini-LP on Semantica in 2010 called Ultralink and appeared on Part One of the label’s Five Years Compilation. Of note, he’s done some work with Hardfloor, appeared on the World Electronics series from Cultivated Electronics alongside artists J.T.C, Versalife , Plant43 and Sync 24, and his track “Sentry” featured in Milton Bradley’s Wax Treatment podcast from 2012, while last year his “Terraformer” opened Tabernacle’s mix for Juno Plus. He’s not exactly setting the world alight, but there’s no denying that Boris, a staple of Spanish electro, is, like his countryman Eduardo De La Calle, hardcore.
As for Fundamental Records, well, they launched in 2010 and it’s run by techno mogul Alek Strak, real name Serafín Gallego. And by trawling his network of Discogs pages it seems he has many fingers in many pies, one of which is a defunct label of his called Star Whores; “inspired from the film Star Wars” as his bio explains. Nevertheless, Fundamental look to be on a good thing sharing Spanish electro with the world, even if, at the moment, that sound is largely a continental European affair. And, to dwell on one release that’s not this one, it’s the mother load 18xLP, 2xCDr, (naturally) limited edition Elektro Domésticos 3 box set they released in 2011, featuring a scroll of unfamiliar names (Zerkalo aside) making, by all accounts, pretty decent, often left-of-field electro.
Deflector|Atractor is Boris Divider’s fourth album since 2006 and Fundamental hasn’t held back on giving it the five-star treatment. Its sturdy, bronze-speckled jacket holds two pearly-white-marbled 12”s that sit in soft inner-sleeves that are themselves lined with plastic, which, if you’re like me and easily succumb to murderous rage when not being able to slide records back into their stubborn sleeves! It makes for a conversely thoughtless procedure.
As for the music, Boris delivers the goods: computer-less, fully-baked, zapping electro. It is pretty minimal though and you won’t hear the kind of hyper-colour mayhem associated with the DJ Stingray, Ectomorph, Dopplereffekt, Drexciya et al. It is vibrant in parts however, but Divider’s beats and jilted rhythms have an antiseptic, Raster-Noton vibe to them, similar to what you might hear from Aoki Takamasa or a reduced Kyoka, only with less funk and twisted J-pop. Disc one is where you’ll find the gems, and the album’s first cut, “Deflector”, is a grubby electro drum track that would have to go down well during the lost hours of a Luke Eargoggle set at Hamburg’s Golden Pudel.
The sterile beats of “Automatischer Austausch” are kissed to life with washes of dubby, oceanic chords, something to be said about “Particle” too. It’s only in “Collision” do we hear subtle signs of Detroit, but it’s still very much European electro converging on techno. There’s obvious references to Kraftwerk too, discernibly heard through Divider’s use of vocals and static, wet-sounding percussion. Really, Divider’s music mechanically screams “The Robots” by Kraftwerk.
The most uplifting track of the LP is on the second disc, and the synths of “Atractor” brightly twinkle while a wavering lead that weaves its way through the track strikes a note that, in its surroundings, is melancholia adopting an euphoric guise. Alek Strak provides a bonus extended version which sounds like the final, futile transmission of The Robot from Lost In Space. The preceding pair “Global Panic Processor” and “Mikrowelt” ram home how properly-made Boris Divider’s productions are, heard through Spanish ears or otherwise.
James Manning
Tracklisting:
A1. Deflector
A2. Automatischer Austausch
B1. Particle
B2. Collision
C1. Global Panic Processor
C2. Mikrowelt
D1. Atractor
D2. Atractor (Alek Stark extended remix)