[ / ] no. 42 | Urbanfailure – Radical Rest

Slovakia’s urbanfailure

 has pursued an abstracted, cybernetic electronica since the late ’90s. Central to the work is the exploratory interlocution of synths and hardware in crafting a barrage of machined rhythm and terse eruptions of noise. Urbanfailure transmits mutating patterns and sequences from his electronics that are as nimble as they are brutal. Quick turns, jump scares and slights of hand run rampant amidst the crunchy drum programming and granular modulations. Radical Rest is a milestone album for urbanfailure, as these live skills have been honed within the controlled environment of the studio. Cybernetic tendrils of raw electricity erupt and collapse along these unstable spines of rhythm.

The plastic morphology of Radical Rest

hinges upon urbanfailure’s labyrinthine approach to rhythm. The album’s steady pulse leaps through innovative tangents and detours that are intentionally spare on melody and devoid of anthemic hooks. “Spread Exploded” scatters an intricate dispersion of mechanoid samples before coalescing into a muscular techno groove, complete with throbbed basslines. The diptych of “Primitive Past” and “Dystopian Future” boils with a jackbooted, high-octane hard house excess and industrial bruitism.

Urbanfailure’s origins

 date back to the time after the collapse of the Iron Curtain and the rush towards a globalized free market. With the opportunities for cultural exchange and economic prosperity made manifest, Slovak (like other post-Soviet countries) was open to a Pandora’s Box of influences. Punk. Techno. Metal. Noise. All of these inspired the DIY underground, but at the same time, many of the agents and operatives in the Slovak music community were quick to take inspiration from the gritty immediacy of social turmoil and upheaval. Urbanfailure’s process of construction and destruction of sound becomes a mirror to the changing Slovak society that he has witnessed for the two decades.

Bold in execution and dynamic in content

 Radical Rest is a vibrant synthesis of error, emptiness, and raw energy, with parallels emergent in Chu Ishikawa’s Testuo, The Iron Man soundtracks, the Lagowski productions for GPR, and the final fruits from Pan Sonic.

New LP by Urbanfailure releases September 29, 2018. Transparent Red vinyl and download.

Listen on Spotify