Senking ‎– Pong

Actually, what I find incredible is the surfeit of people who post about an artist they clearly know nothing about and were drawn to purely because of a reference to an early game. The same thing happened on iTunes when "Halo," an older EP by Accelera Deck, resurfaced there and angry gamers panned it because they were expecting a game soundtrack even though the EP preceded the entire Halo series.

I like playing certain games, too (Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne, Silent Hill 2, Ico), but reviews that overlook every genre and tradition *except* gaming are incredibly ignorant.

Senking is none other than the creator of the Karoake Kalk label and a specialist of disciplined minimal post-techno with profoundly warm drones, dub processing and often disquieting elements that suggest cinematic narratives -- particularly those of horror and science fiction. His best work is often on the Raster-Noton label and his work here, while not as evocative as on the previous album, List, is still haunting and meticulous.

If you need to understand what Jens Massel is doing and you're unfamiliar with the entire movement from which he has emerged, then listen to Stewart Walker's *Stabiles*. Walker's intention on Stabiles was to create tracks like static objects -- not through-composed music, but static sound-objects inspired by Calder's mobiles.

The tracks on Pong, like those on Stabiles, are designed to *pulse in the room with you like arrays of aesthetically arranged LEDs in sleep mode*. Senking's tracks often use specifically placed spatial elements which occupy precise areas of the stereo field, frequency range and even soundstage. It's all about whether the sound is high or low, resonant or thin, wet or dry, wide or narrow, centered or pushed further to the right or left. A trained listener can tell the difference instantly between an uninspired untrained person attempting this and someone like Massel/Senking, whose sense of placement is like that of a conceptual artist with very refined taste.

One of the things Senking adds to this otherwise static style is narrative elements. These often give his pieces a feeling of foreboding and progression that is normally missing from work in this area. It also makes his take on this style unique and valuable.

It would be nice if those who chose to write about music like this actually understood it. If you'd like to hear more music in this area, look at the works of people like Carsten Nicolai and Taylor Deupree. Have a look at the Raster-Noton catalog as well.

"PONG – referring to the classic video game"; there is no reference here; The Game is about play, joy, passing the ball over and over and better and better...; the album on the other hand lacks play and joy; the only thing that is done over and over is the same "slow motion grooves...shredded melodies, sub basses and echoes" that other musicians have already done better and better...

it's incredible, nowadays, the way concepts place the form of an idea, of an art experience. this cd is pure "lounge", encased by a trend.