As the musical collaboration of Ekoplekz and Baron Mordant, eMMplekz on paper and in practice is right up our alley. There’s a new album that should be appearing in shops some time this week, titled Your Crate Has Changed, marking the 67th release on the Baron-run Mordant Music label.
The best introduction to the circuitry and spoken word rabbit-hole existence of their music is shown, not described. Luckily, a full two hour show appeared online – live eMMPlekz in all it’s glory that you can check below.
Their first LP – IZOD Days – dropped last year and caught most of us off-guard. As stand-out as it was, it somehow ended up becoming more a side-piece in a year of top-notch Ekoplekz records as opposed to the adventurously unique offering it is. Having revisited it recently, I don’t doubt that in time it’ll be drawn on as the rough and rugged beginning to something special.
A few months back came a stunning vinyl (or at least a b-side) release of a 21 minute live recording of eMMplekz, joined by Vindicatrix and Zeke Clough on stage. Around the release time of ‘No Show (Live 2012) ‘ a new full-length studio album was heavily hinted at. Been waiting nervously for the tracks to drop, and on early listens it just seems that Ekoplekz and Baron Mordant are just getting more and more in sync with their work together.
The new LP is brilliant. Baron Mordant has unexpectedly hit stride as a story-teller / toaster / ranter of sorts over Nick Edwards analogue electronics. Who would’ve thought? His voice and incredibly dry nature of his observatory spoken-word has evolved from bizarre humour to something more powerful. We were still getting used to it as a bit of a quirky novelty to compliment Ekoplekz’s beats with IZOD Days, but here his vocals are given centre-stage. Even just the sounds of him playfully chatting with a child take on an edginess after being run through the echoes and distortion.
Ekoplekz aka Nick Edwards has remained one of our favourite sound-crafters over the last few years. His ability with machine music is as individual as it is consistently mind-blowing, and projects with Ekoclef, Nochexxx and even on remix work we’ve seen how beautifully hectic he can make a track. Through eMMplekz, we get a chance to see him in composition mode for shorter, lyric based works, where restraint and more consistency from start to finish are given equal parts. It’s a quality listen.
eMMplekz offers much more than the sum of it’s parts. Bizzare music deisgned to get you shook, at the same time not as an abrasive listen as it could’ve been and oddly emotional. No idea where this project will end up taking us in years to come (possibly in to some form of mental illness) but there’s not a thing I don’t like about it.
No clips yet but the record will be out soon enough, and in the meantime you can check the no-nonsense press-release below.
via Mordant Music
eMMplekz return server after ‘IZOD Days’ semi-beguiled local sorting offices…’Your Crate Has Changed’ takes up that diarised baton & legs it to Rymans for future remnants…take a dose of plagued Pepys, a demijohn of Ekoplekz’s masterly live voltage and siMMer…switch to classic…BM/EZ