Over the past year-and-a-half, the duo of Dexter Brightman and Jair Espinoza have explored abstract electronics in increasingly new and interesting ways. Over the course of numerous tapes on labels such as Avant Archive, Neon Blossom, and others, the duo has combined the ideas of repetition and sound art and continually mutated them into something that is becoming increasingly difficult to pin down. With the recent “Tek No Muzik” 12” on Crazy Iris, mechanized acid was introduced in the mix. It is not techno music in any sense of the term, but is subversive electronic music aimed at overloading your aural receptors.
On this self-titled debut full-length, KPLR has been stripped down in more ways than one. Due to geographic barriers, Brightman is now on his own and if this record is an indication, he's operating at the peak of his powers. For this album, Brightman took inspiration from his daily environment. At his job he is subjected to continuous machine noises that, after hours of constant repetition, begin to morph into machine music. Repeated phrases, beats, and even harmonies start to find their way through the mire. This KPLR record takes those ideas and elevates them to something incredible.
These zonked-out digital acid malfunctions fit together like a puzzle. Each piece of debris manifests itself as part of a larger whole. It is music that is simultaneously cold and abrasive yet draws you, almost mechanically, so that you can't pull yourself away. With influences as far reaching as Merzbow and Ceephax, Brightman is searching for the one frequency to set everything else aflame.
KPLR is inquisitive and intuitive as it bounces rhythmically through the grid. It is hard to call this dance music as it's too discombobulated and fried. It is beautifully flawed and built on a web of endless, screeching circuits. Dexter Brightman is on his way to becoming part of the machine.