Kyron - "Morpho Genex"
(Black Note Music 2005, BNM 044, CD)
Kyron - "Morpho Genex"
(Black Note Music 2005, BNM 044, CD)
From Aural Innovations #32 (November 2005)
Kyron is J.C. Mendizabal, and Morpho Genex is his excellent 13-track exhibition of pure electronic sound sculpture. Aside from the more transparent influences (Aphex Twin and Scanner, for example), Kyron's apparent modus operandi is the deconstruction of any and all available sound sources and their reassimilation into monolithic blocks of solid electrosynthetic architecture. And in the realm of electronica, Morpho Genex is about as good as it gets. Mendizabal's sound bytes, from the heights of the telescope to the depths of the microscope, are finely realized and meticulously constructed, and together create a seamless voyage through the outer reaches of inner space and beyond. Utilizing an arsenal of samplers, loops and other sound generators, along with the occasional guitar and a Pandora's Box of disembodied voices, Mendizabal explores the boundless possibilities of cyberspace like an acid-ripped engineer. Though at times a bit wearing on the ears, pieces like "Lab Rat," "Slalom" and "Morse Code" command deep listening with their layers of electronic texture immersed in silicon chip seas of reverb and echo. Acolytes of the early 70s Kraut space cadet invasion (Kraftwerk, Neu, Kluster, et al) will shit their transistors when they hear the well-tempered transmutations of "Xenon Arc" and "Shameless Complex." And for pure noise at the aural threshold of endurance, "Ed the Fish" is a piece of malevolently crafted high tech sadism. The cool down mock jazz chill of "Preposterous" is an effective and disquieting coda that closes out Morpho Genex with an icy stare across the neon skyline of some artificially generated cyber city of the future. Kyron is definitely for all those who relish being trapped forever in the nanocircuitry of god's AI.
For more information you can visit the Black Note Music web site at: http://www.deconstructionist.com/blacknote.
Email at: jcbn@deconstructionist.com.
Reviewed by Charles Van de Kree