Articles
Christopher Tignor
Spotlight 13

Albums
Advanced Dreams
Federico Albanese
Matthew Barlow
Bruno Bavota
Black Unicorn
Bolder
Borghi & Teager
Carla Bozulich
Chris Campbell
Colo
Deadbeat / Paul St Hilaire
Detroit Swindle
Donato Dozzy & Nuel
Yair Etziony
Lewis Fautzi
Hammock
Mark Harris
Hideyuki Hashimoto
Kodomo
Listening Mirror
Lost Trail
Lucy
Machine Code
Yann Novak
Opitope
Origamibiro
Pinkcourtesyphone
Michael Robinson
Mariano Rodriguez
Dana Ruh
Janek Schaefer
Sketches for Albinos
Jakob Skøtt
Talk West
Christopher Tignor
Wen
Scott Worthington

Compilations / Mixes
Generation Hyper
Sharam Jey

EPs / Singles
Children of the Stones
Dexima
Dexta & Hyroglifics
dock 1
Dream Weapons
Dr.Res
FFM Vol. 2 EP
Glory Club
Nightstalker EP

Jakob Skøtt: Amor Fati
El Paraiso Records

Amor Fati (‘love of fate') is not only an album title but also a term that will be instantly identified by students of philosophy as a favourite of Nietzsche's; however, no degree in philosophy is required for one to reap the benefits of the second full-length issued by Causa Sui drummer Jakob Skøtt under his own name (he also plays in the Sun River and Chicago Odense Ensemble outfits, and is one-half of the shoegaze duo Syntaks). His is the third strong album release to come from El Paraiso in recent months, with ones by Causa Sui and Papir leaving strong impressions prior to Skøtt's.

One of the album's distinguishing points is its strong live feel, something especially evident in the drumming, all of which was recorded in a single afternoon. Skøtt's playing by the Teo Macero rulebook in this case, with all of the elements recorded fast and then assembled and edited in Bitches Brew-styled manner. One might invoke Nietzsche a second time in that regard (specifically The Birth of Tragedy), given that Skøtt brings some degree of Apollonian order to the Dionysian chaos of the improvised sprawl.

Amor Fati opens in kosmische territory with “Mantis in Lace” introduced by a bass synth riff, but the material really grows in strength when Skøtt threads not one but two combustible drum tracks into the mix, a move that recalls Tortoise, itself a double-drummer outfit, at its wildest. Mix in some trippy synthesizer and organ flourishes and you've got a Milesian stew set to broil. If anything, the later “Araucaria Fire” and title track are even more ferocious.

The worry that accompanies a drummer's solo release is that it'll be too heavily skewed to drums and percussion and too lean in the melodic department. In this case, while there's no shortage of percussive activity on display, there's a strong melodic focus, too, and Skøtt shows himself to be fully up to the challenge of engaging the listener by featuring a generous supply of keyboard (organ, synthesizers, electric piano) and guitar melodies in the seven tracks. It's only natural that stylistically the forty-minute album would gravitate toward post-rock (think Tortoise, Trans Am, and, of course, Causa Sui), but Skøtt also keeps things fresh by taking the album into different directions, too. That's never more apparent than during “Eastman Oyster,” where the music plunges into a psychedelic krautrock orbit, and especially “Omega Oscillator” and “Earth of No Horizon,” pulsating, analog-styled riffs on ‘70s kosmische synthesizer music.

March 2014