Tokyo Mask: Route Painless (2009)
After the raw primitive edge of his first two EPs (‘Backbone’ and ‘Manfool’) and the obsessive-compulsive circle of repetition that is ‘Hinterlands’, Kostas Karamitas presents ‘Route Painless’: a massive post-industrial wall of sound. From minimal drones to noiserock-inspired clashes between pounding drums and screaming distortion, ‘Route Painless’ is an elegant monolith: layers of processed field recordings and guitar/bass textures are transformed into pure overdriven filth, sometimes tamed to take the familiar guise of a riff (albeit an overly primitive one), other times left on their own to form ecstatic walls of noise and feedback. ‘Route Painless’ is harsh in its uncompromising nature, but never punishing. Here darkness is charm, an agent of wonder and desire.
Recommended if you like
Techno Animal,
Xingu Hill.