artist: CURRENT 909
title: THE PRICE FOR EXISTENCE IS ETERNAL WARFARE
Press Release: PURE has been producing a wide variety of electronic music over the last decade, spanning from minimal and conceptual electronics to ruff drum'n'bass to speedcore, much of which have become classic in its respective fields. The year 2003 sees several compilations offering a chance to catch up with some of these gems, originally released in limited editions on vinyl and mostly unavailable now, as well as containing added unreleased tracks. Hot on the heels of his double CD BODYHAMMER released on PRAXIS collecting his hardcore material, appears the CURRENT 909 CD as a collaboration of ATMOSFEAR and DOC titled: THE PRICE FOR EXISTENCE IS ETERNAL WARFARE.
CURRENT 909 is PURE´s project for electronic music that lives in the grey area between dance music and movie soundtracks based on a combination of pattern oriented production techniques and techniques of collage. The music of CURRENT 909 can be seen as a transition between his much rougher and more aggressive earlier works and his beatless mostly improvised works of the last years for labels like MEGO, STAALPLAAT, or DOC.
Starting off with the dark ambience of THE FUTURE OF HUMAN CONTAINMENT, the theme is continued by THE LOCKDOWN and AND THEN HE PUSHES BACK taken from the ATMOSFEAR 002 12" which was inspired by the movie GHOSTS...OF THE CIVIL DEAD, a movie that deals with the topic of the privatisation of public institutions and its consequences - in this case the privatisation of prisons. Equally the two tracks from the first ATMOSFEAR release are featured: The shimmering beauty of GOLDEN DAWN and the single-minded repetition of HOSPITALISM, representing the dance music related side of the CURRENT 909 project.
With the addition of nearly 40 minutes of unreleased material the CD is rewarding also for those who are familiar with the vinyl: INFORMATION WAR, built around a sample taken from the movie DECODER, a movie from the early 80s dealing with another society related topic, the importance of public access to information, and METATHERION, melting slow electro beats with a theme that reminiscent of historic opera recordings, complement the depth and seriousness of the CURRENT 909 project. The two tracks will be released on vinyl by MEGO shortly. A 21-minute excerpt from the only ever live show in Vienna from 17-12-1997, can be seen as a remix of released material with some drafts of yet to be finished tracks. These additions underline that live or in the studio there is no tone superfluous or wrongly placed.
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www.skug.at: Diese Koproduktion zwischen Mego und DJ Pures Label .doc ist eine Zusammenstellung aus dem bereits 1997 veröffentlichten titelgebenden Soundtrack und einigen anderen, auch aktuellen Stücken. In seiner darken Electro-Inkarnation Current909 (wobei gewisse Affinitäten zu einer ähnlich klingenden englischen Post-Industrialband nicht von irgendwo kommen, das »909« ist selbstredend) internalisiert Pure Ambient-Drones aus dem Fundus industrieller Tonkünstler (Chris& Cosey etwa) und bringt sie auf den Stand der rhythmatischen Technik. Dieser rhythmisierte Ambient mit rudimentärer Klangcharakteristik hat etwas mit der Verwobenheiten Cabaret Voltaires zu tun, die Stimmsamples weisen in ein beinahe klassisches, düsteres Setting, zu dem die verzerrten Synth-Töne ein dichtes Feld paranoider Auseinandersetzung weben. Mit teilweise sogar tanzbaren Patterns wird hier eine Breitseite mentaler Dekonstruktion losgelassen, Coil würden sich freuen. Ziemlich sicher einer der wichtigsten heimischen Beträge auf diesem Gebiet.
www.sodapop.it: Spero che nessuno salti questa recensione poichè scoraggiato dal nome; scrivo questo perchè almeno due persone già mi hanno detto: "che squallido, come fai a chiamarti così quando esistono già i Current 93?!". Ora, per fugare ogni dubbio sul nome, sappiate che Current 909 è Pure, uno che ha già all'attivo dischi per Mego, Staalplaat, dOc etc. Questo CD consiste in una raccolta di materiale uscito in formato vinilico nei novanta e masterizzato solo l'anno scorso. Per molti versi si sente che è figlio dell'epoca in cui è nato, o quanto meno di un amore probabilmente sviscerato per l'elettronica che fu e non di quel suono Warp che dopo poco divenne un vero dogma, ancora prima del freddo e del buio che generavano 808 State, dei Dive, degli Psychic Warriors Of Gaia, del Nord Europa, delle droghe e del circuito gay. Detto questo, le canzoni non rimanevano per nulla ancorate alla nostalgia di un suono giustamente defunto, ma navigavano già in direzione di alcuni suoni minimal-techno di fine millennio. Oltre a questa dote attribuibile alla lungimiranza di Pure, va anche aggiunto che tre tracce del CD sono materiale più recente ed inedito. Passando nuovamente al contenuto del disco, se l'attacco potrebbe ingannare e dare ragione a quelli che immaginavano Current 909 come un elettronico da circuito dark-apocalittico alla Homo Novo, Der Blutharsh, basta arrivare a Golden Down per capire che solo le atmosfere sono simili. And Then Pushes Back e Methaterion (le tracce che mi hanno colpito maggiormente) infine rendono anche evidente il fatto che si tratta di materiali provenienti da periodi diversi. Per i cultori e per chi pensa che l'elettronica sia orfana di quelle atmosfere plumbee degli esordi.
www.indiepoprock.net: Dark ambiant au rendez-vous de cet album de Current 909, projet parallèle de Pure. Inspiré par le film "Ghosts of the Civil Dead", celui-ci annonce clairement la couleur : le prix de notre existence est celui d’une lutte permanente…
L’atmosphère est pesante. Elle pourrait être celle d’un hôpital de guerre dans un conflit post-apocalyptique. Tout est très imagé, très cinématographique. Les sons et cris d’instruments électroniques résonnent dans vos oreilles à vous faire pénétrer progressivement dans un certain hypnotisme. La voix des hommes montent du champ de bataille, les ordres sont diffusés par haut-parleurs, délivrant également un état des lieux, échanges par talkies-walkies sur une situation peu brillante…
Les coups de feux échangés se mélangent aux beats grouillants et trébuchants. Les blessés affluent de plus en plus nombreux. Les gaz font leurs effets : ils commencent à voir des choses, ils ont peurs. On les enferme pour qu’ils ne propagent pas l’idée que quelque chose d’horrible est en train de progresser sur le front, de tout avaler.
Entre aliénation et blessure de guerre, l’électro-industrielle de Current 909 décrit un conflit terrible entre cauchemar et réalité douloureuse. Engagez-vous sans hésiter mais le prix à payer sera juste… votre tourment !
www.fluxeuropa.com: Current 909 is Pure's project for electronic music, and this disc is a bringing together of early Atmosfear releases with around 40 minutes of unreleased material. Unsurprisingly, it's a mixed bag with the pounding beats of 'Hospitalism' sounding a lot like Ultraviolence, the scuzzy sampling of 'The Future of Human Containment' remeniscent of Muslimgauze, 'The Lockdown' early Aphex Twin and 'Information War' - built around a sample from an early '80s film about public access to information - Cabaret Voltaire. All of these are good in their different ways, but the best track is the beaty, shimmering 'Golden Dawn', from the very first release on Atmosfear, beautiful and sinister. It all sounds very nineties, and we are probably now far enough in to the current decade to look back on its predecessor with our rose coloured spectacles firmly in place. That being so, this is a timely retrospective - but whatever its age there is some excellent stuff here: go get it. Top.
www.de-bug.de: Fieser Titel gell? Und ebenso morastige Musik. Da wird das Pathos noch mit Säbeln geschliffen und obwohl hier nicht so herumgetrümmert wird, kann es einem doch ganz schön in die morbiden Reste einer grundlegenden Menschenverachtung treiben dieser Sound, der jedem Horrorthriller gut tun würde. Vor allem aber wegen der Triolentechnobeats in sehr sehr lax, eine CD die nicht einfach nur auf die Düsterdüse drückt. Nunja, die Platte wurde in den 90ern aufgenommen, das merkt man ihr auch an, und Teile erschienen als Atmosfear 1&2 sowie auf einer Mego EP. Brilliant zur Vorbereitung der nächsten DVD Ausleihe auf dem iPod, oder beim übernächtigten Verfolgen der 1001sten Weltkriegsdoku.
www.funprox.com: Current 909 is the more soundtrack oriented project of the Austrian producer/dj Pure, who released noise oriented works on labels such as Mego and Praxis, as well as some hardcore-techno oriented stuff.
This CD contains 8 tracks of soundtrack-like material and some rhythmic material. The tracks are all made with synthesizers and all sound like they were made in the 80�s horror movie industry. They have a bit of a simpistic doom feeling over them, and the simple melodies responsible for this feeling get repeated just a bit too much. The rhythms are not very interesting either, as they also sound a bit dated and are certainly not progressing in any way during the tracks.
This is a bit of a disappointment after the excellent Pure CD on Mego, so you�d better buy that one instead.
www.ekspress.ee: Ebamäärane industriaalne formaalsus?
Vangistuse ja sõja teemadele keskenduv industriaalse kõlaga, erinevas/ebamäärases stiilis muusika. Kõikvõimalikud sämplid, k.a tekstikatked ja käsklused, üritavad plaati hoida temaatiliselt ühtsena, stiili määratlevad rütmimustrid varieeruvad techno’st (“The Lockdown”) ja elektrost (“Golden Dawn”) aeglase industrial’ini (“Information war”, “Metatherion”). Väga rütmistatud asi (kuigi rütm võib kohati olla üsna vaba nagu idm-is), meeleolu on teadlikult “sünge”, kuid märksa vähem kui enamikul asjadel, mida ma ambient/industrial ¸anrist teadlikult kuulan. Eriprojekt. Niivõrd eriline, et selle müügiargument jääb mulle täiesti hämaraks. Industriaalid hindavad tavaliselt suuremat karmust, elektroonikuid peletab eemale bändi industriaalne olemus, ja Current 909 pole ka piisavalt eksperimentaalne, et selles vallas kellelegi korda minna. Ent “Metatherion” on väga hea ja korvab seda kõike veidi.
http://kovenant.org/~i-radio/upload/3rd_edition/press/reviews/228-current909.htm: Current 909 to projekt człowieka związanego z Pure. Jednak ten dysk zawiera stuff bardziej elektroniczny i miejscami w klimacie dark ambient. To co sie wyobraca dziś w moim odtwarzaczu będzie zawierało zbiór wczesnych prac Atmosfear, łącznie spiętych w 40 minut dźwięku, który wcześniej nie doczekał się wydania. Co nie jest większym zaskoczeniem to fakt, że utwory są zmiksowane z tłuczącymi się beatami oraz rytmami. Tak właśnie mamy w kawałki "Hospitalism", który mi mocmo przypomina Ultraviolence. Dalej mamy podle brzmiace sample w kawałku "The Future Of Human Containment", co dla omiany przypomina mi już Muslimaguze. "The Lockdown" to z kolei akcja jak wczesny Aphex Twin, a "Information War" zawiera sample z filmów dokumentalnych z lat 80. zaiwerających postulaty publicznego dostępu do informacji. Jak chcecie, ale mi to jedzie ewidentnie Cabaret Voltaire (za co tu jest duzy plus!). Po tych wszystkich lepszych lub gorszych ścieżkach dochdoze do wniosku, że kawałki w których występuje konkretna rytmika i beaty (takie jak iskrzący się aż "Golden Dawn", pochodzący z pierwszego wydawnictwa Atmosfear), są zdecydowanie najlepsze. Ten ostatni brzmi potężnie i pięknie - w tym pieknie zawarta jest też postindustrialna bestia, bo kawałek brzmi na prawdę złowrogo. Materiał cały jest retrospektywny, ale odkrywający swoje własne pola w tym gatunku. Kumulacja różnych sił muzycznych daje konglomerat (hehe, hello Arturze!) zdecydowanego dźwięku, którego nie tknęła słabość związana z wiekiem.
www.staalplaat.com/vital_archive/: Of course you heard of Pure, the Austrian musician who released CDs on Staalplaat, DOc and Mego. What you may not know is that he releases music under the funny monnikker Current 909. This is the area of Pure in which he explores the use of rhythms aswell as samples of movie soundtracks. He has a couple of 12"s out on Atmosfear (who co-release this CD) which are now here, aswell as two tracks from a new 12" on Mego and a recording of his only ever concert, from 1997. The rhythms are quite slow, but pulsating. The darker edges of the dance floor are explored here and wouldn't do very well at the big rave next door. I was reminded of some of Lagowski's older music. Samples are mixed (Genesis P-Orridge? in 'Information War' and there is nod to Current 93s 'Dawn' LP) in these lenghty pieces which seem to want to evoke a state of hypnotism. At times too lenghty and maybe a bit too retro (area 1995 dance music), but there is probably a niche for that.
