Mouse on Mars - Varcharz

Genre electronica Publisher Ipecac Records External Links Official Mouse On Mars Website Official Ipecac Records Website

For more than a decade, Mouse on Mars have been making electronic music that defies genres and jumps boundaries, helping to pioneer the genre now known as IDM. Varcharz, the German duo's latest release, seeks to continue such exploration and to redefine what it means at a time when electronic music is no longer as Balkanized as it used to be.

Beginning with "Chartnok," sound shards assault the ears: subterranean bass, industrial clinks, clipped percussion. Melodies of noise sprout and wither, growing perennially over a beat that draws from ragga jungle - though the song itself would never be considered drum n' bass. It's an amalgamation of several styles, as are all the tracks here. "I Go Ego Why Go We Go" mellows out in a song-based, melodic mode; here and there, it could be mistaken for Boards of Canada. It's the closest Varcharz comes to a dance track, that is, a track in which all the elements fuse and point to movement. It's not the only track to employ four-to-the-floor, but elsewhere it's skewed such that the focus weighs more toward sound/effect than functionality. "Skik"'s triple meter beats and bloops lead into the eight-bit deconstruction of "Hi Finilin," showing the group's familiarity with different electronic aesthetics.

What follows the gentle "Retphase" are twelve tracks entitled "One Day Not Today," most under ten seconds in length, though they grow longer until the last reaches five minutes. This series splatters kick drum and noise and distortion like a sonic explosion, reminiscent of Kid 606. Within the tumult are audible a few nods to the material of earlier tracks - perhaps these are in some way out-there remixes of the rest of the album? The final "One Day Not Today" moves into ambient territory, blending soft scratches into a quiet fadeout that makes room for the clicks and whumps of "Ignition Segments." Varied until the end, yet consistent in its drive to exploration, Varcharz is a fine addition to Mouse On Mars' extensive catalog.