The future used to be sold to us as a fine shiny utopia, a pristine world where age is itself a thing of the past.

The new future being played out for us on Sendai’s album Geotope speaks only of a time after decay, after erosion, even after echoes are finally fading.

All that’s left are the machines.

This stunning album is the work of Yves De Mey and Peter Van Hoesen working together as Sendai.

Peter Van Hoesen is best known for producing heavy dark heavy techno aimed directly at the dancefloor, and recently appeared on the Inertia series of releases on the Ann Aimee label, while Yves De Mey may be better know for his recent Counting Triggers album of sparse crackling electronics on Sandwell District.

Terminal Silver Box opens the album with a deep droning wall of feedback and static, punctuated with what sounds like a needle stuck on the end of the run out groove providing a rhythm. Follow The Constant then hits hard with a beat full of lovely bass tones and crackle, a simple bass line, occasional chords and another hypnotic drone.

A Refusal To Celebrate a Statistical Probability is simply a stunning piece of sound design, it’s strange time signature and processing working to great effect.

Win Trepsit/Brief Delay builds gracefully through its 1st half based on simple bass pulses, clicks and cuts, a moments silence gives you breathing space and then the pressure is back on. Further Vexations is a real standout point for me, distorted and lofi, yet full of funk.

EP2012-4 is pure techno, the point in the album with most clarity, though still with enough edits to catch you off guard. Slowing things down is Geotope, it’s kick drum is like a pulse laying beneath more fuzz and crackle, and synths struggle to bring a melody to the surface before Emptiness of Attention closes this set with more tape hiss, bass throb and reverb, and some closing chords that would not sound out of place on an Autechre album.

Geotope, across 8 tracks explores many textures and is an album not to be missed by lovers of Emptyset, Alva Noto, Ben Frost or Roly Porter.

GRAB

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Sendai – Terminal Silver Box
Sendai – Following The Constant
Sendai – A Refusal To Celebrate A Statistical Probability
Sendai – Win Trepsite/Brief Delay
Sendai – Further Vexations
Sendai – EP-2010-4
Sendai – Geotope
Sendai – Emptiness Of Attention