Lingouf - "Fréquences Sensibles"

Artist: Lingouf
Album: Fréquences Sensibles
Year: 2014
Label: Ant Zen
Genre: Rhythmic Noise, Gabber, Chiptune, Experimental
Website: www.ant-zen.com













Basics:
In addition to being an incredibly talented artist (he does all the fabulous artwork for Lingouf, and I highly recommend checking out his website which has to be one of the best on the net), Vincent Ingouf is also quite an apt musician. His work is typically a strange hybrid of gabber, hardcore, rhythmic noise, and related genres. On his newest album, Fréquences Sensibles, he follows a somewhat similar modus operandi, though this time he gets more into chiptune and, for lack of a better term, experimental territory.

Stuff:
As per usual, almost all of his tracks are incredibly long - all but one track here is over 9 minutes in length, the longest being over eleven and a half minutes! While this is normally absurd for the rhythmic noise or gabber genre, Lingouf is up to the challenge of crafting music so incredibly complex and diverse that it doesn't feel repetitive or monotonous, even after 10 minutes of the same track. It's rather hard to describe any one track as they are exceedingly complex and go through many different sections. For example, the opener "Orage de Decembre" begins with a minute of near nothingness before evolving into a sort of dubby slow part which continues to build, introducing muted vocal clips and beep-y chiptune-ish synth bits before exploding into a beat heavy section. What follows are several erratic and schizophrenic sections chock full of gabber kicks and mutant synths - everything from chiptune to trance to pummeling rhythmic noise. This reminds me of a heavier version of something like Squarepusher put into a blender with Bit Shifter and Somatic Responses. Where normal music is built from verses, choruses, and maybe a bridge; Lingouf's music has bridges, tunnels, skyways, valleys, you name it. It's completely unpredictable and nonstop.  Just when you think it might be mellowing down, it ramps right back up and hits you with a wall of noise and even more bizarre, cacophonous synths. This is rhythmic noise at its most abstract. I feel that it is nearly impossible to accurate explain in adequate detail, and you really need to hear it for yourself.

Overall: 
Truely some of the most bizarre music I have ever heard. If the idea of very complex, mutant Gabber appeals to you than check this out! I am more familiar with his early Ant Zen stuff which I liked; this is a bit too out there for me but I still appreciate all the work that surely went into crafting this. Fans of Ant Zen who are looking for something more happy and erratic, look into this one.