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Writer's pictureSylvain Lupari

DANIEL B. PROTHESE: 44.44.44 II-III

Updated: Nov 22, 2021

Fast-paced sequencing pattern vs noisy ambient music. Choice's your's!

1 SEM Oberhlastung 44:44

2 Dieses Sinkende Gefuhl 44:44

(CD/DDL 89:28) (V.F.)

(Fast Sequencer-based EM, Noisy ambient)

Welcome to the land of sound experiments by Daniel B. Prothese a project by ex-Front 242's Daniel Bressanutti. 44.44.44 II-III is a return to the psychedelic electronic experiments of the vintage years. A double-album that is part of the obscure Überlastung series. The first CD, SEM Oberhlastung was made with the Oberheim Sem pro plug-in and the Xaoc Moskwa sequencer set to ostinato mode. The result is 45 minutes of pure energy!

Imagine for a moment the old screaming sirens of the 70's. Slightly slow down those flashing lights and loop them in a storm of sound pulses and you have the first 7 minutes of SEM Oberhlastung. 44.44.44 II follows the very ambient industrial 44.44.44, released in May 2020. The principle is quite basic in the sense that Daniel B. Prothese designs a pulsating core of 44:44 onto which he grafts psychedelic effect loops and/or repetitive harmonies. Is it long? Not really! Bored? Not at all since the half of Nothing But Noise reinvents the elements outside of this frenetic stationary rhythm that no headbanger would be able to follow for this distance. For example, there are loops of psychedelic shapes that go woo-woo over this electronic ostinato. These shapes swirl with slight nuances on this rhythmic vision that sometimes remains stable and at other times accentuate the velocity by a small quarter turn. The result is as deafening as it is seductive, especially when lines of piano or moiré arpeggios are grafted onto this infernal ritornello. The synth also shapes some very nice solos in this spiral that could easily perforate the eardrums when played at high volume. And if one thinks that this rhythm decreases the pace, Daniel Bressanutti just decreases its sonic strength to protect us from a possible headache. Because SEM Oberhlastung never stops beating its pulsating beat, even behind a sonic veil ​that at times is more powerful than its frenetic trance rhythm. The passage around the 25th minute proposes a reorientation of the rhythm which becomes like a kind of train race pushed by our perception, by our imagination. If the rhythm is less pulsating, it remains not far from equal with sequenced pulsations that evaporate in an echo effect between the 28th and 29th minute. SEM Oberhlastung is reborn in a more industrial sound mass that approaches the album 44.44.44. This ambiguous and sometimes even dark passage stretches until the 37th minute, when SEM Oberhlastung returns to its original form. Big EM which sounds a lot like NBN, made for a monster rave party and which could leave scars on feet and ears for a few days.

Quieter but still noisy, Dieses Sinkende Gefuhl is closer to 44.44.44 than of SEM Oberhlastung. The track features a stationary sound mass filled with electro-magnetic activities rendered by WMD's Gamma Wave Source, which is a voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) that can create infinite timbres using the built-in digital effects. And it is a bit of a sound training that Daniel B. Prothese does on this small and inexpensive device that can do miracles like on these 44:44 minutes of Dieses Sinkende Gefuhl where the rhythmic life is banished, letting the sound waves overwhelm us like a sinking sensation...

For or against, 44.44.44 II-III gives the appearance of being a distance learning course on the art of creating electronic music (EM) from plug-ins to synths and sequencers. And if SEM Oberhlastung makes our feet ideal targets, Dieses Sinkende Gefuhl continues to chew our ears already heavily mortgaged by the ebullient 44.44.44 II.

Sylvain Lupari (November 22nd, 2021) ***¼**

Available at db2fluctuation Bandcamp

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