Last night I went out, simply because I like going to places and hear some loud popmusic. Before I did I played this release by Qebo, apparently a long time after his previous release, which I didn’t hear. Qebo hardly plays the sort of popmusic I heard later in the evening, but I had to think of Qebo when being there. Should I play music by Qebo at an equally loud volume (taking the risk of a fight with the neighbors), because maybe I like it better then. Qebo make crazy music, totally over the top fast beats, with lots of glitchy sounds that go along all in a nervous an hectic manner. Seven tracks in total, with a length of some thirty-six minutes. That doesn’t seem much but it left me utterly exhausted (might of course also the hangover from last night) after hearing the CD. There is a lot of information in this disc, which makes it not easy to grasp. I think it’s all a bit too much of hyper nervous going on here. Maybe I am missing a/the point of it, and would it be better to listen on much more volume and even possibly try to move my feet. At home this seems lost.

The influence that Aphex Twin, Planet Mu and the likes had on music in general can not be underestimated. Like usual, there are hundreds of other musicians in the shadow of those big names, and the important (and sometimes straining and seemingly meaningless) task is to find the ones that really matter. It seems to that I haven’t heard anything decent by Richard James in years and even though the umpteenth birthday of Planet Mu resulted in some fine music, I am looking for what is new. This search, in itself, is probably wrong and a typical idea of people interested in music. If they write about music, then the worse, because then they aren’t looking for music to listen to, but also for music to write about, which results in looking for something that is outrageously different to what was here before. Which a lot of times results in wrong judgements and stupid hypes which by the way of frustration feedback into the even more desperate search for something new. What is the way out? Probably to stop looking for the breaks and leaps in the evolution of music and to start looking for the gradual developments. In any kind of journey, all the steps are important.

Qebo, for instance, have laid down one of those records with “wroln” that cannot be labelled to mark a milestone. Not yet, anway, but it shows a lot of interesting developments, some new ideas and most important, a decent amount of originality. I mention the latter point because especially in electronic music there is so much uninteresting music floating about, it is sometimes sickening to just step inside a store and look at the racks with vinyl and Compact Discs and knowing already, that it will take a few hours to sift through trite shit to find some fine releases.

Qebo are not as harsh and effect-focused as four out of five releases on Planet Mu and they are also less enigmatic and keen on hiding inside the self-manufactured labyrinth as Aphex Twin, and because of this probably more approachable and interesting to listen to. Moreover, there is also more than enough interesting things to listen. The seven tracks on “wroln” mainly consist of erratically jumping and changing beats, that nevertheless manage to get out of all the chaos and magically form a straight beat somewhere. Electronic noises, more percussions, skits and samples fill up the holes in between and the manically shifting rhythm makes for an overall impression of derangedness that must be a fine world to party in. Because the music is never cold, never abrasive or detached. Quite the opposite, albeit the ferocious beats and the manic changes inside the music, the symptomatic loss of melody, this CD might catch the listener in a good mood, make him or her feel good. This is not the soundtrack to urban decay, and it is also not the soundtrack to the hedonistic beach club party in Ibiza, but perhaps a few people getting together after a long night out to party some more in somebodys hotelroom.

At times, the music falls over and turns more towards the realm of strange noise. A track aptly entitled “deepcore” slowly adds more and more noise while leaving out more and more of the beats until halfway through the track sounds as if it was recorded underwater. Then, with another, quite harsh shift, distorted beats catch up the whole thing again, only to add a more chaotic mixture of beats. Quite interesting, that is, but probably not too good to dish out the vodka-lemons to the girls in beach dresses. Or, maybe I am wrong, and it is the perfect thing for exactly that – depends on the girls. I hope you all find the right ones.

Alter Schwede, die Griechen sind auch im Audio-Bereich experimentell. Doch damit nicht genug, oder besser gesagt – zum Glόck. Denn sie belassen sie es nicht bei der reinen Klangerzeugung sondern erweitern sie im Rahmen ihres kόnstlerischen Anspruchs um den visuellen Faktor. Der manifestiert sich einerseits im Hintergrund ihrer Live-Performances und andererseits durch visuelle Kunst auf der vorliegenden Enhanced-CD namens “Wroln”. Sie ist nach dem Debόt-Album “Flopper” die zweite Verφffentlichung der Griechen Alexander Retsis und George Aggelides, die Qebo 1999 aus der Taufe hoben.

Nichts fόr’s Nebenbeihφren aber erstaunlicherweise mindestens zur Hδlfte fόr das gezielte Hφren geeignet ist die 37-einhalb-minόtige 7-Track-Ansammlung ein Kaleidoskop δhnlicher Klangformationen. Deren groίe Schnittmenge zeichnet sich durch die ausschlieίliche elektronische Klangerzeugung fernab der echten Tanzbarkeit, oft ‘vershuffleten’ Rhythmen in diversen Tempi und teils hektischen Vermischungen experimenteller “Kling-Klang-Schnipp-Schnapp-Biep-Bong-Kloing”Klδnge aus. Kleinere Δhnlichkeiten zu dem einen oder anderen Aphex Twin und Konsorten-Track sind nicht ganz von der Hand zu weisen, auch wenn derlei Vergleiche durch genug Eigenstδndigkeit – im Rahmen der bekannten Experimentalsound-Grenzen – nicht notwendig sind.

Der Grundgedanke aller Tracks ist damit definiert, dennoch variieren sie, was Nicht-Enthusiasten aber sicherlich nicht groίartig aufmuntern dόrfte. Hier einmal ein durchgδngiger Beat wie bei “Cancer”, da ein erhφhter Bass-Anteil (“Deepcore”), im Gesamtkonzept eher chillig – siehe “S06eth5ng” -, “Wroln” als wilder Industrial-Brocken und das abschlieίende “Kloink Media” als fast schon chilliger Experimental-Popsong, der an Apoptygma Berzerks “Detroit Tickets” erinnert. So bekommt Qebos kleine Zielgruppe durch “Wroln” genug Abwechslung geboten, wobei trotz aller wahrgenommenen Abwandlungen der Experimentalbegriff schon qua Definition so dehnbar ist, dass er eigentlich viel mehr in sich birgt als die schon so oft gehφrten Klδnge.

PS: Eine kritische Anmerkung zu den Videos gibt es eventuell noch spδter als Kommentar, sobald sich ein PC findet, der sie auch abspielt…

Even though the genre formerly known as „Intelligent Dance Music“ is now officialy dead, with even the most succesful proponents subsumed under the moniker claiming it was utterly besides the point, some of the questions raised within its context are still occupying the minds of experimental acts today. Among the issues which have remained under intense scrutiny are the relationship between the human and the robotic, between the organic and the synthetic, between simple emotional resonance and complex mathematical algorithms. „wroln“, too, is torn between these poles and it adds yet another aspect to the list: The symbiosis of audio and video.

Maybe qebo are therefore following a completely natural line of investigation with their second effort. All around us, borders are crumbling and demarcation lines are being crossed both in terms of what was deemed possible only a couple of years ago as well as what was considered ethically acceptable. The arts seem one of the few spaces which have the ablity to reflect upon these changes without succumbing to empty rhetoric. It fits, then, that there is nothing overtly political about „wroln“. Maybe there isn’t even a hidden agenda underneath its surface – and yet its conclusions are certainly anything but pure entertainment.

Of course, the music alone warrants this. Every beat collected here bounces and billows into a thousand different directions at the same time, every arrangement bulges out by the weight of the creative potential attached to it and even shorter, more compact tracks go through various degrees of metamorphosis. Conflict is a natural state for this Greek duo, whether they are trying to reconsile static drones and hollering percussive work or spinning simultaneous cycles of decline and development. In fact, the album seems to suggest that this kind of conflict is inherent to all processes around us, arriving safely at the eye of the storm after navigating through a danger zone.

As could be expected, the main sensation while listening to „wroln“ is not one of surprise or alienation, but of feeling completely at home. The first track is called „new shit“, but with everything that has happened since the „worship of the glitch“ began, it simply couldn’t live up to that claim. Or maybe qebo have come to the conclusion that we have come to a crossroads and that the future needs to take a step back towards more organic elements in order to advance.

Many passages here certainly solidify that impression. For after a frenzied opening, in which the humanoid machinery spews sparks of maddening algebra, the tone of the record becomes more conciliatory. Increasingly, a groove begins to establish itself, sending very physical impulses and catchy vibes to the dazzled mind. This development is completed with the irresistible push of closer „kloink media“ – a club track for New York rather than for new worlds.

The result is instantly convincing. „wroln“ still smacks of the exotic taste of electroinsectoid amalgamations, but it has a smile on its face as well. In the videos which come attached to the audio material, three different directors take a similar approach in projecting this vision to the visual world. Especially Antony Squizzato’s take on „Manifold“, with its warm threedimensional computer renderings, establishes virtual homes, which one would immediately want to live in, instead of marveling at their unattainability.

Returning to the debate mentioned in the first paragraph, „wroln“ may not have a political program on offer. And yet, its message seems clear: The future is something to look forward to – if we do not forget about our human core. Their music, meanwhile, is a pretty good soundtrack to this evolution as it takes shape.

Onto Qebo who have a CD out on Low Impedance. One of 2 this week on the Greek electronica label .’Wroin’ is its name and in a nutshell this is well electronic. This has never seen a guitar or a drum in it’s life… Mind you I suppose people who live in the middle of nowhere have either and they’re not well electronic. Well this is….. splintered beats and crunchy-ness making a very very full sound indeed. Some of it is a little abstract at times with squirks and squiggles hither and thither but in general I prefer the beatier stuff on this as it’s done pretty well. Nothing new but it’s clearly done by someone who knows what they’re doing. At times there’s bits of Team Doyobi in it (check out Deepcore).... quite interesting at times.

Qebo’s sound is well defined by off beat electronic percussion driving a slew of distorted bleeps, sweeps, and creeps to the point of ridiculousocity. Ultimately the sound is rather simplistic, keeping within a self-defined realm of slow progressions through what sounds like a haunted house in outer space. The constant background hum is enough to make you scared for your audio equipment. Certain tracks border on an almost acid-bass sound, wet overprocessed leads driving the majority of the melodies. In the end, I would say electronic noise nerds only on this one, but I would love to hear the group expand their sound library outside of the few repetive glitch patterns that dominate the album.

“Wroln” is the name of Qebo’s second new album after a long break. Be warned! This album is exciting journey that leaves the listener breathless. I don’t know how but listening to Qebo’s music generates thousand pictures per second. Colors mixed with sounds that trespass the known borders. Qebo’s music or better say his art is often compared with the music of Aphex Twin. But in my opinion that’s just the half-truth… Qebo starts where others stopped. He combines sounds capes, musical fractals and heavy baselines to something monolithic. The disturbing sounds begin to conquer the listener and become something beautiful, known sounds become a disturbing attitude and annoy the listener. It’s a kind of role-play or better says an Industrial Electronica fairy tale. More and more the music soaks up the listener and colourful sounds squirt and then…. suddenly, like in the eye of the storm, the listener feels save and secure in this sound thunderstorm. This music turns your world upside down and baffle the listener, it scares him and consoles him. This is art, this is nonesuch music with a deep effect! Psychoacousticbeautifulelectronica….

A remarkable and beautiful CD possessing a great depth! Perfect 10. The multimedia CD contains also stunning Videos created by innovative VJ’s Threepixels, Anthonny Squizzato and Effekts.

I never really managed to get into the whole ‘clicks and cut’ and ‘glitch’ thing that was happening a few years back. It wasn’t really that I didn’t like it, it was more that I didn’t really get it. Occasionally however something would cross my path that would catch my attention. As things have quietened down in that scene this has happened less and less. Qebo are a nice exception to this trend. He / she / them or it (I know not which it is) has produced an absorbing and intriguing set. Qebo avoids the obvious pitfall by keeping the rhythms as an important element of the actual piece and by not allowing them to disappear in a poly-rhythmical morass. The melodies are likewise simple and engaging.

It’s still all a bit too abstracted and clinical to get me dancing round the campfire but it is, on the whole, rather good.

Wroln finds Qebo (Greek electronica vets Alex Retsis and George Aggelides) doing post-graduate studies in Autechrian sound design with a strong focus on the EP7-Confield period. The duo’s second release (Flopper appeared in 2002) offers seven tracks teeming with ricocheting beats, glitch-laden smears, and strangulated rhythms; imagine what a hive of agitated bees with microphones strapped to their bodies might sound like and anchor the results with hyper-active beats and you’ll have a fairly good impression of Qebo’s style. The uncompromisingly electronic Wroln isn’t without appeal, however; unlike Confield, one definitely gets the sense that humans are controlling the machines (rather than vice-versa) and Qebo’s sound design may be dense and busy but it’s not incoherent. In “Cancer,” suppressed sounds eventually escape the straitjacket and rupture into a streaking stampede of tumbling beats and automated splatter. Some vague trace of hip-hop is even present in the writhing beats of “Deepcore” though admittedly it’s so subtle it verges on inaudible; no such concealment attends “Kloink Media” where the rhythms are rather straightforwardly heard, with nary a viral element in sight. The arrhythmic soundscape “S0th5ng” brings Qebo’s cinematic strengths to the forefront with the curdling flow of snuffling noises and wipes suggestive of a dying body dragging itself along the night streets, and every noise heard amplified. Musically, the release is lean at thirty-six minutes but the enhanced CD also includes three video treatments by Threepixels, Effekts, and Anthony Squizzato (which, unfortunately, could not be viewed on my system).

Qebo’s second outing “Wroln” offers the traditional glitch bill of fare of erratic beats and digital noise that drops in and out of time in random intervals. “Wroln” can best be described as a combination of Alec Empire’s Gameboy pieces and Aphex Twin’s faster paced tracks from “Drukgs, which is very interesting concept in and of itself. However, the problem with “Wroln” is that is has no variation in that every piece sounds the same; having the same out of time rhythmic pace, digital effects, and buildups. It would have been nice for this album to have some ebbs like an ambient piece or digital noise collage or even a mixture of tempos. Instead, what you have is album that sounds fresh, innovative, and cool right out of the gate, but quickly becomes tiresome and dull to the point where it is difficult give the album a complete listen.

Fast and playful. Breaks, glitches and clicks and cuts, fast moving electronic music. Uplifting and easy to listen so a bit shallow you might argue. Yeah but when you stare too much at the abyss, the abyss stares at you, or something like this, point is, definitely not stuff to wrap your brain with, still you don’t want every music experience to be exhausting. And this is playful and at times funny, with very good quality of sound, music, so if you’re into this kind of sound, which i’m not, you should have an ear open….

Alex Retsis and George Aggelides are back with the moniker Qebo, after a long hiatus, and in their second album, named ‘Wroln’, the tangled digital structures become even thicker, permeated by a glitchy aesthetic which is pervasive both in the experimental circle and, these days, in the clubbing contexts. These elaborations, too, follow a double track, not because they’re designed for the dance floors, but because they’re inspired by the environment and the imagery of those small electronic ‘live’ dimensions, for their radical and dynamic nature and for the ideal juxtapositions with the images manipulated by the VJs (the very essence of a dimension halfway between clubby enjoyment and the very concept of performance). Schizoid and futuristic imagery flowing in a synthetic continuum, crossed by complex rhythmic, resounding and hyper-active sequences, innovative and strong audiotextures.

Qebo are a Greek duo and, coming from a country not especially noted (with the colossal exception of Xenakis) for contributing greatly to electronic music, they are paradoxically at an advantage, as sometimes happens when you ‘read’ established genres from a distance. Wroln is steeped in futurisms old and new, slow and fast, moving concurrently with one another (“Cancer” contains fleeting but uncanny resemblances to Stockhausen’s Kontakte). Opener “New Shit”, for example, with its matrix of IDM percussion, is like finding your way through a meteor storm only to come upon a whole new constellation of orbs in deep space. It’s proof that genres like glitch aren’t passing fads or blips but do eventually take their place in the larger order of things.

The hyperactive gastric eruptions that are part and parcel of Wroln suggest Qebo might be the Pete Townsend of post-Autechre software abuse: as the masticated sonic onslaught unfolds throughout, one can imagine the two Qebotians swinging their laptops high overhead, a la the former Who guitarist, before crashing them and their itinerant sounds to the stage floor in self-destructive fury. Yes, Wroln is a violent music, spastic, shrill, and supercharged, but somehow the duo maintain enough control at the wheel to stave off anarchy…barely. Trouble is, who today has the patience for such well-wrought but technologically inchoate noise? The pincushion beat mechanics and thinly corrosive synth sweeps of “New Shit” make for quite the opening grabber, our savvy duo making mincemeat out of whatever polite ambience comes their way, electronics body-popping and short-circuiting at near-gabber speeds. The malevolent cell structure of “Cancer” is slow-growing at first but quickly metastasizes, as corrosive materiél congeals in a digital bubblebath, scoring their containers with acid reflux. Qebo’s follow-up to their rather excellent Flopper on the defunct Vibrant Music is a puzzle—perhaps they wanted to reinvent themselves as laptop contrarians, reacting against a perception that all is too warm and fuzzy in the electronic lumpenproletariat (although “S06th5ng” courts less abrasive realms, a unfrantic piece of regurgitative spit and polish). True or not, Wroln is tough going for even the most rugged laptop warrior, a more atmospheric sub-Merzbowian blast of arctic road chill made by two ‘warewolves quite indifferent to our tender sensibilities. ‘Course, that all depends on which side of the trackpad you’re on.

The hyperactive gastric eruptions that are part and parcel of Wroln suggest Qebo might be the Pete Townsend of post-Autechre software abuse: as the masticated sonic onslaught unfolds throughout, one can imagine the two Qebotians swinging their laptops high overhead, a la the former Who guitarist, before crashing them and their itinerant sounds to the stage floor in self-destructive fury. Yes, Wroln is a violent music, spastic, shrill, and supercharged, but somehow the duo maintain enough control at the wheel to stave off anarchy…barely. Trouble is, who today has the patience for such well-wrought but technologically inchoate noise? The pincushion beat mechanics and thinly corrosive synth sweeps of “New Shit” make for quite the opening grabber, our savvy duo making mincemeat out of whatever polite ambience comes their way, electronics body-popping and short-circuiting at near-gabber speeds. The malevolent cell structure of “Cancer” is slow-growing at first but quickly metastasizes, as corrosive materiél congeals in a digital bubblebath, scoring their containers with acid reflux. Qebo’s follow-up to their rather excellent Flopper on the defunct Vibrant Music is a puzzle—perhaps they wanted to reinvent themselves as laptop contrarians, reacting against a perception that all is too warm and fuzzy in the electronic lumpenproletariat (although “S06th5ng” courts less abrasive realms, a unfrantic piece of regurgitative spit and polish). True or not, Wroln is tough going for even the most rugged laptop warrior, a more atmospheric sub-Merzbowian blast of arctic road chill made by two ‘warewolves quite indifferent to our tender sensibilities. ‘Course, that all depends on which side of the trackpad you’re on.

The hyperactive gastric eruptions that are part and parcel of Wroln suggest Qebo might be the Pete Townsend of post-Autechre software abuse: as the masticated sonic onslaught unfolds throughout, one can imagine the two Qebotians swinging their laptops high overhead, a la the former Who guitarist, before crashing them and their itinerant sounds to the stage floor in self-destructive fury. Yes, Wroln is a violent music, spastic, shrill, and supercharged, but somehow the duo maintain enough control at the wheel to stave off anarchy…barely. Trouble is, who today has the patience for such well-wrought but technologically inchoate noise? The pincushion beat mechanics and thinly corrosive synth sweeps of “New Shit” make for quite the opening grabber, our savvy duo making mincemeat out of whatever polite ambience comes their way, electronics body-popping and short-circuiting at near-gabber speeds. The malevolent cell structure of “Cancer” is slow-growing at first but quickly metastasizes, as corrosive materiél congeals in a digital bubblebath, scoring their containers with acid reflux. Qebo’s follow-up to their rather excellent Flopper on the defunct Vibrant Music is a puzzle—perhaps they wanted to reinvent themselves as laptop contrarians, reacting against a perception that all is too warm and fuzzy in the electronic lumpenproletariat (although “S06th5ng” courts less abrasive realms, a unfrantic piece of regurgitative spit and polish). True or not, Wroln is tough going for even the most rugged laptop warrior, a more atmospheric sub-Merzbowian blast of arctic road chill made by two ‘warewolves quite indifferent to our tender sensibilities. ‘Course, that all depends on which side of the trackpad you’re on.

The hyperactive gastric eruptions that are part and parcel of Wroln suggest Qebo might be the Pete Townsend of post-Autechre software abuse: as the masticated sonic onslaught unfolds throughout, one can imagine the two Qebotians swinging their laptops high overhead, a la the former Who guitarist, before crashing them and their itinerant sounds to the stage floor in self-destructive fury. Yes, Wroln is a violent music, spastic, shrill, and supercharged, but somehow the duo maintain enough control at the wheel to stave off anarchy…barely. Trouble is, who today has the patience for such well-wrought but technologically inchoate noise? The pincushion beat mechanics and thinly corrosive synth sweeps of “New Shit” make for quite the opening grabber, our savvy duo making mincemeat out of whatever polite ambience comes their way, electronics body-popping and short-circuiting at near-gabber speeds. The malevolent cell structure of “Cancer” is slow-growing at first but quickly metastasizes, as corrosive materiél congeals in a digital bubblebath, scoring their containers with acid reflux. Qebo’s follow-up to their rather excellent Flopper on the defunct Vibrant Music is a puzzle—perhaps they wanted to reinvent themselves as laptop contrarians, reacting against a perception that all is too warm and fuzzy in the electronic lumpenproletariat (although “S06th5ng” courts less abrasive realms, a unfrantic piece of regurgitative spit and polish). True or not, Wroln is tough going for even the most rugged laptop warrior, a more atmospheric sub-Merzbowian blast of arctic road chill made by two ‘warewolves quite indifferent to our tender sensibilities. ‘Course, that all depends on which side of the trackpad you’re on.

The hyperactive gastric eruptions that are part and parcel of Wroln suggest Qebo might be the Pete Townsend of post-Autechre software abuse: as the masticated sonic onslaught unfolds throughout, one can imagine the two Qebotians swinging their laptops high overhead, a la the former Who guitarist, before crashing them and their itinerant sounds to the stage floor in self-destructive fury. Yes, Wroln is a violent music, spastic, shrill, and supercharged, but somehow the duo maintain enough control at the wheel to stave off anarchy…barely. Trouble is, who today has the patience for such well-wrought but technologically inchoate noise? The pincushion beat mechanics and thinly corrosive synth sweeps of “New Shit” make for quite the opening grabber, our savvy duo making mincemeat out of whatever polite ambience comes their way, electronics body-popping and short-circuiting at near-gabber speeds. The malevolent cell structure of “Cancer” is slow-growing at first but quickly metastasizes, as corrosive materiél congeals in a digital bubblebath, scoring their containers with acid reflux. Qebo’s follow-up to their rather excellent Flopper on the defunct Vibrant Music is a puzzle—perhaps they wanted to reinvent themselves as laptop contrarians, reacting against a perception that all is too warm and fuzzy in the electronic lumpenproletariat (although “S06th5ng” courts less abrasive realms, a unfrantic piece of regurgitative spit and polish). True or not, Wroln is tough going for even the most rugged laptop warrior, a more atmospheric sub-Merzbowian blast of arctic road chill made by two ‘warewolves quite indifferent to our tender sensibilities. ‘Course, that all depends on which side of the trackpad you’re on.