2047 – 汚染します

Recommendation: ☀☁☁


汚染します1 is the last album by 2047 – at least, under that particular alias, and depending on whether or not you count Infinite.2 The co-founder of BLCR Laboratories remains an exceptionally prolific producer through many projects such as gorepup and メディカル, to say nothing of the numerous pseudo-anonymous titles on other labels. The typical album by 2047 was heavily sample-reliant vapordrone music; in that respect, 汚染します is a bit of an odd duck in the 2047 library, instead utilizing exceptionally clear production and impressing upon the listener a static affect that typifies the creator’s later drone works, such as UNDERDOSE and Coma.

It’s a difference especially noticeable in comparison to Snow and 새로운 삶을 시작, of which both heavily sampled from video game soundtracks (Solar Fields and Mirror’s Edge, respectively) and had a slight slushwave feel to the ambiance. In 汚染します, there is little to no sampling – or none that is recognizable – and the tracks are based in honest-to-God drone rather than simply being ambient-influenced. Other late 2047 albums experimented more in pure drone, but the haze on NEXUS_DAWN (out on TKX Vault) is almost entirely removed from the crystal-clear tones on 汚染します – tones that also inform the メディカル project. It’s like listening to Brian Eno if Eno sought to expound upon the sterile environments of medical facilities in his ambient volumes3 rather than rebel against them – a concept that will certainly be familiar to fans of メディカル.

The essential track on 汚染します is “雰囲気”, a forty-minute centerpiece that set the blueprint for later long-form works such as “他人になりたい” from UNDERDOSE and “Flumazenil” from Coma – both of which are メディカル albums. The track just barely develops over its run-time, taking plenty of energy to simply exist in oscillating synthesizers that are held far longer than what would be natural. They have an ever so slight wavering to them that sounds almost organic. They might be too much for all but the most diehard fans of drone, but they’re curious listens to see where 2047 went next – even if it were not necessarily through that particular project.

However, 汚染します is more than just a curious piece at the end of the 2047 project lifetime: it shows where the artist’s head was at when going next, and it offers some surprisingly delightful drone pieces, not all of which are forty minutes long. Check it out if you’re a fan of the メディカル project.

 

Tracklist


1. フィルス – (12:38)4
2. 変化する – (8:06)5
3. 雰囲気 – (39:59)6
4. スモッグ – (5:08)7
5. 根絶します – (7:32)8


 

1Japanese translation: “Contaminate”
2So many qualifiers!
3… to which the album title alludes.
4 Japanese translation: “Phils”
5 Japanese translation: “Change”
6 Japanese translation: “Atmosphere”
7 Japanese translation: “Smog”
8 Japanese translation: “Eradicate”

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