hauntologists: s/t

A specter is haunting the clubs -- the specter of ancient rhythms that have been wandering over this planet for millions of years. Jay Ahern and Stefan Schneider summoned this specter, and now it will not let them be. The truth is they don't want to part ways. Together they are Hauntologists, and together they unchain the ghosts in the machines. Coarse and physical; dark and sexually-charged updates of ancient rhythms -- and motorik, driven like a drummer in a time loop, improvised just like African street music. This analog, rumbling techno, shifting and layering meticulously, is simultaneously forward-looking and ancient, idiosyncratic and deeply-rooted. It all started with a chance meeting between Ahern (Add Noise, Cheap and Deep Productions) and Schneider (To Rococo Rot, Roedelius Schneider). Five EPs showered down to earth over the course of the following years, the results of concentrated studio jams during which the machines talked to each other while the Hauntologists did not do much more than mumble certain magic formulae and sprinkle some magic powder over the proceedings. Sure, these machines are those legendary X0X devices from that Japanese manufacturer with a name that starts with an "R." You can tell, but whatever -- that doesn't really matter. For the two Hauntologists these little boxes are just physical utensils to use during their rituals and ceremonies. They do not deny their sound-shaping characteristics. But they do avoid the clichés associated with them. So here it is: the first album. After the first five EPs, the Hauntologists album discloses further facets of the two Hauntologists, shadow images of bleeps and acid, sähkö and longing, all drifting and floating in and out of the mix. These tracks were created live, and there release comes in advance of their live invocation, continuing the live interaction and dialogue between two human beings. An invocation of ghosts from the past, reimagined in the present. These rhythms, they will never stop.