RADIAN

juxtaposition

CD/LP, Thrill Jockey

Yesterday evening I re-listened the “Gamera”-EP by Tortoise, the record that started off the whole “postrock”-thing for me back in 1995 and I was surprised on how fresh and exciting the two lengthy tracks on it still sound. In spite the misreading of the title as “Camera”, I still understand the fuss we made about the band and the record back then more than I did back then. The true feat of Tortoise and postrock – I don’t want to call it a revolution, because indeed it would have been a counter-revolution and a small one on top, so I am glad it is possible to use the word postrock again without hesitation – was to focus on quality of sound and structure instead of extremity and pure loudness or power of volume. The dynamics grew from deep within the interplay of basic instruments without too much effects and gadgets, swaying softly but profoundly with the depth and energy emanating from the core of the music, rather than the image. In that respect, Radian are true heirs of postrock.

But Radian have opened the approach of postrock to electronic sounds, incorporating the whole range from white noise drones (“transistor” and “ontario”) to clicks’n’cuts (“shift”). Some years after Mille Plateaux is yesterday’s paper this should come as no surprise, but musicians as well as fans are a conservative lot, so things move way slower than they appear. Maybe there should be stickers on CDs that says: “Attention, music on CD appears closer than it really is.” Radian, on the other hand would deserve a different sticker. One that pointed to the fact that listening closely is required to really grasp what the special sound of Radian is.

“juxtaposition” of course is a title that gives the whole thing away in a nutshell. It would be a definite no-brainer to write about the oppositions of electronic music and analogue music, about the synthetic versus the natural or even the clashes of alternative universes. In fact, that is either not true or of no interest, really. It is the bridging of gaps, the fusion (here is another word again that was long detested by music-fans around the world) of oppositions.

Radian make that clear right from the start, with “Shift”, which – forming from the obvious title – starts with a tithering pulse of brushed drums and synthie-sounds only to fall apart into a subtle breakbeat, or rather broken beat, which by more drum- and percussion trickery and the sound of a dark bell gets reassembled in a true machinery noise style. A nervous, flickering, bustling chaos of sounds, but with the constant feeling of a concrete underground. And while you wait and wait for the “real” track to start, the noise gets bigger and bigger, until you realize there is no song waiting at the end of these sounds. No harmonious guitar line, no chorus or melody. Only the drums take over, in a style that is so completely void of the usual ostentative crashing – nevertheless an exciting piece of music. Chamber orchestra concert for drums and electronic trickery.