Vinyl LP
33 33 is the first collaboration between two contemporary pillars of European experimental music—Peter Rehberg and Nik Colk Void—under the anagrammatic acronym, NPVR. Rehberg, head of Vienna’s Editions Mego label, has been composing music on the fringes of electronica since the mid ‘90s via his pseudonym, Pita. Debuting with 1995’s Fridge Trax (co-released with General Magic), Rehberg fashioned the bizarre from the benign, deriving ambient textural pieces from field recordings of buzzing refrigerators.
Void is a London-based artist and producer, active as half of DFA-aligned electro dance project Factory Floor and a third of the magnificently eerie Carter Tutti Void, a sort of outward-bound techno collaboration between Void and the legendary Chris Carter and Cosey Fanni Tutti. Pivoting from pop punk-oriented guitar constructions with her first group, KaitO, Void has spent the better part of a decade delving into the expanse of experimental electronics.
33 33 sounds like something neither party could have fully anticipated. Amassing their mutual collection of modules and sequencers, Rehberg and Void conjure up a snarling assault of dissonant groans, static staccato, and razor-sharp synth patterns. On opener “Meantime (Part 4),” the rhythm is a jagged, machining broken beat embellished with echoing clangs and caustic, mechanical chirps. The final 10 minutes of the album belong to “DEABG (#1 & 2),” a piece that ebbs and flows with an improvisational air as the duo stack up and strip away countless sources and treatments.
By structuring their works around rhythm, the duo raise questions as to the purpose of their arrangements: Are these songs or are they noise? Is the music physical or is it cerebral? NPVR’s work on 33 33 is compelling enough to warrant a thorough inquiry.
