Gesloten Cirkel – Murder Capital 11/12
Russian producer Gesloten Cirkel’s debut album, Submit X, was last year’s most important long player. This is because it was the first album to connect a wide audience to the dark and grimy acid-techno-electro fusion that has been simmering away for over twenty years on labels like Guy Tavares’ Bunker, its sister Panzerkreuz and Murder Capital. Submit X was not by any stretch of the imagination a polished record, but it did distill much of the raw form energy from and provide some focus to the rough, distorted sound of those labels’ catalogues.
Every detail of the album, from the direct, powerful kicks, to the audibly high-quality mastering job – some Hague-style records sound like they were recorded in a toilet – helped, albeit inadvertently, to put this distinctive underground in the spotlight. It may seem like a moot point, but it was Gesloten Cirkel’s ability to interpret a lo-fi sound in such high definition that made Submit X so inspired. The effect was akin to a half-deaf person hearing their favourite song for the first time after their hearing was fully restored.
Having put out such an impressive work, Gesloten Cirkel did what any self-respecting artist would do, and went to ground. This retreat came to an end with the arrival of two new Gesloten Cirkel records, again on I-F’s Murder Capital label. Unlike this artist’s first few records, Gesloten Cirkel and Moustache Techno Series 1, these two releases are less diverse.
Both 11 and 12 could have easily been put out together as one release to form a response to Submit X, especially as the focus is on a similar, acid-heavy sound. Indeed, 11 features “Acid Stakan”, a 303-heavy version of “Stakan”, from Submit X. It succeeds in making the original even more ominous, with a heavy layer of acid laid over the otherworldly synths and wall of bass. One element that is common to these releases and all over earlier records is Gesloten Cirkel’s sense of humour. Here, it manifests itself most audibly on “The Real Melbourne House”.
Clocking in at over ten minutes, it starts off with thunder claps, rolling kettle drums and glitchy blips and bleeps, before a pitched down vocal starts to tell a story about a DJ called Lewis who manages to lure his audience out to a remote location to break into their cars while they are off raving. Once the unsuspecting punters have been fleeced, there’s nothing left but a 303 segue that would make Phuture proud. There’s nothing quite as bizarre on 12, but it does boast a curiosity in the form of “Perron”. Departing from the prevailing acid-heavy script, the producer fuses titanium kicks and robotic, buzzing wasps with an electro swing and a deranged vocal repeating what sounds like ‘beserk clown’.
For the most part though, these two records succeed in showcasing Gesloten Cirkel’s mastery of sewer techno. “Never”, on MC 11, lasts almost a quarter of an hour, yet it flies by to the sound of stomping drums, a robust rolling rhythm and a dense mixture of eerie textures and 303 lines, underpinned by sheet metal percussion. On MC 12, “Chasing Away The Night” follows a similar direction, with tough drums veering towards distortion and an industrial rhythm backing up the ghoulish narrative about chasing the night away.
The producer’s ability to drag Dutch electro and techno tropes from the bunker is also audible on “Charming”. The track’s buckled rhythm and distorted, buzz saw riffs give way to cavernous break downs that, like the other tracks on these releases, shine a warts-and-all light on this acid-frazzled underground sound.
Richard Brophy
Tracklisting: MC011
A1. Real Melbourne House
A2. Stakan Acid
B1. Never
Tracklisting: MC012
A1. Chasing Away The Night
B1. Charming
B2. Perron