derek piotr

many concept albums, particularly electronic concept records, carry with them the possibility of portraying their topic in caricature. it certainly could have been the fate of the Greie Gut Fraktion – a duo formed of Antye Greie aka AGF and Einsturzende/underground darling Gudrun Gut – but amid the buzzing chainsaws and ambient surges of what either would have been felled trees swooshing to earth or an idling tractor, there is precise songmaking at work. high-frequency pings and squeals accent the melodies instead of overloading them, the clips and fuzz surround the stunningly precise beats (remember this album was birthed exclusively of Greie/Gut field recordings of construction). This is industrial with a pop twist, on Drilling an Ocean, reverb-painted beats (that probably were microphone mistakes on the raw) pair with a sinister drone in the background and Gut whispering “I’m recording, I’m trying to record”, all of which slides underneath Greie’s cool intonations. The record thrashes, pulses and clanks, and all the while we’re reminded of the beautiful possibility that our banal or grating surroundings  can invoke engaging music. In that, this concept album has soared far above its own limits.