madteo: unrescuable dense musik of the blah blahs

Stretched out over 79 minutes, it bears all the hallmarks of a Madteo creation: tumbling through free jazz and traversing alien landscapes, sludgy grooves, dissonant electronics and lo-fi hypnosis coalesce into his ominous and eccentric soundscape. In between smudged loops and lurching, ungainly rhythms, intermittent squalls resembling sounds from a trans-dimensional plain or fragments of an extraterrestrial signal emanate. Committed to tape, the recordings are near indecipherable when listened back, dissipating into the ether as atonal synthesis takes centre stage. Juxtaposed by a palette with roots in North American traditions of hip hop, house and techno, the love-hate relationship Madteo shares with his adopted homeland beams through subversive messaging. Glitching IDM rendered from binary and engrossing sound design awash with static and white noise open portals to Madteo’s warped, misshapen world, but the exploration of African American themes probes deeper, challenging perceptions surrounding race, identity and social justice.