Anatoly Pereslegin - "Xenophobia"
(Electroshock Records 2010, ELCD 050)

From Aural Innovations #42 (May 2011)

Xenophobia is Anatoly Pereslegin's fourth release for the Electroshock label and consists of three tracks ranging in length from 21 - 27 minutes.

Kiss White Dwarf opens with a combination of noisy and spaced out electronics. This mixture of harsh and alien elements pervades throughout the piece, functioning like multiple competing coils rapidly spreading out to ever increasing lengths. A pulsating, throbbing, screeching, droning exploration. What keeps the music interesting is that it's not overly dense. I enjoy noise excursions if the artist employs, and my brain can discern, disparate elements, and Pereslegin has made a distinction between the components he's manipulating. Rape Quantum picks up where Kiss White Dwarf left off, though as a listening experience we're in considerably more rugged territory. Pereslegin is in full assault mode and at times I imagined a swarm of bees attacking, and at others a massive battle in space. What's interesting, though, is the almost orchestral nature of the piece. This is harsh stuff indeed, but Pereslegin has structured it like an ear-piercing avant-garde electronic symphony. The cacophony continues on Heteroemergency, though Pereslegin draws back from blitzkrieg mode a bit. The electronics are still harsh, and at times more dense than the previous tracks, but it's still got that noisy symphonic quality that kept my attention throughout Rape Quantum.

Xenophobia is a departure from Pereslegin's previous three albums, both thematically and musically. The word is defined as the hatred or fear of foreigners or a foreign culture, which seems to stray from the Biblical themes that characterized his previous releases. I didn't have time to revisit those albums but re-reading my reviews I had made references to Keith Emerson, Vangelis, The Residents, Laurie Anderson, Tangerine Dream and Ash Ra Tempel… wow, none of that here. What is common among the four albums are the symphonic elements, though Pereslegin is clearly experimenting with new directions.

For more information you can visit the Electroshock Records web site at: http://www.electroshock.ru

Reviewed by Spaceman33

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