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| Rating: 9/10 |
Det är lite konstigt that after a couple more or less experimental releases by Perispirit, Nova Scotian Arms and KPLR, Digitalis seems to have inaugurated a discodrome in Tulsa to welcome a special guest from Europe. Compared with aforementioned albums, “Muzika Electronic” sounds like a dance record. Almost, with a couple of wilder interpretations of electronic music.
The party is set up by the Swedish group Frak, consisting of Jan Svensson and Johan Sturesson, who celebrate the 25th anniversary with an impressive package of mechanical rhythms. While revisiting the 1980’s in many tracks, the release is not limited to the simplicity of two-finger synth arrangements, but also open to new influences. Joint vascular system called Frak offers a couple floor-oriented tracks that might have made the crowds cheering when Crown Princess Victoria was only five, and they still do.
My pick for the night is “Varje Dag”, a smutty vocoder song with catchy bass rhythms and electric pianos. Another cuts of alien boogie are „Tristesse Dance“, which moves in the same wavelength with early DAF and majestically swaying „In Order To Create“, where rusty robots emerge from the stellar fog do the vocals – found some parallels with I-F’s “The Men You’ll Never See”. “As You May” is a symbiosis of wave and techno textures while “Voyage No. 1” and “Komma Igång” sound like the outcome of an acidic jam session with KPLR. To the same category belong “Katamorph” and “Beat Dyslexia” sounding like illicit interactions of analog gear left alone for the night.
It was in 1987 when Frak did the debut release for the Swedish electronics label Börft and looking at the 25-year experience it’s no wonder they are recycling elements of new wave, electro and techno – but have managed to maintain healthy freshness in the sound.