T++ – Wireless (Honest Jon’s)
Sunday, April 11th, 2010
Since its 2005 debut, Torsten Profrock’s T++ project has grown in stature and scope to the point where it’s admired by fans of techno, dubstep, d’n'b and experimental electronics alike, and annexed by none. Anchored in the kind of scuffed, sub-heavy atmospherics Profrock developed in his 90s recordings for Chain Reaction, and naturally influenced by his work with Robert Henke as Monolake, the sound of T++ is singular, always evolving, difficult to fix.
But now we come to the end. Wireless will be the last work the Berliner produces under that name. Appropriately enough, it’s his most expressive, energetic and fully-realised work, affirming the enduring fundamentals of the T++ aesthetic even as it steers it into uncharted climes.
Long ago snagged by the rhythmic innovations of the post-jungle underground, here Profrock makes explicit his debt to the radical fringe of UK garage. Snapping 2-step rhythms are at the heart of all four tracks; for all the distress, deconstruction and detournement they undergo at his hands, the spirit and swing of the British soundsystem tradition is unmistakable.
Further, Wireless is a kind of remix, shot through with the contorted samples of voice and ndingidi from a handful of old East African 78s (collected on a forthcoming Honest Jon’s compilation).
The result is a record that sounds at once ancient and modern, possessing a unique tonal language, and with it a curious, almost occult power.
Audio Samples;
Available to purchase on 2×12″ here
