Drawing us in with a magnetic and experimental staccato energy, AUTiSM opens the 2023 Remaster of his album Neverberator with intricacy and dimensionality, needless to say, we are in awe. The opening track is Old Tape Monofreak, which takes us on a vibrant and evocative journey with sonic nuance, cerebral textures and nothing short of genius instrumental design.
A subversive bass synth comes into play, whilst the astral energy of the original melody remains before disappearing to create a subversive moment with a pulsating, cyber edge.
Flowing cohesively into the next track, we experience The First Drunk on Mars, which features a whirring and “inebriated” flow, in line with the concept of the song. We are mesmerized by the almost meditative respite, as the opus builds with synthetic energy to take us on an immersive trip.
Next up is Science-77, which holds an almost 8-bit energy with beeps and a divergent bassline. A William Orbit-inspired synth entices us whilst an almost Eastern sitar sound answers akin to the concept of discovery.
Upper Stream showcases a pulsating mood with textured percussion and warped vocals whilst holding a jazz energy, demonstrating the melodic versatility of the composer.
We learn that the album was only available as limited CD print since the year 2000, and it is wild to see how fresh the soundscape remains with the 2023 Remaster, demonstrating how ahead of its time AUTiSM‘s creation is.
Catching Up With Electricity further cements this with tom tom meets rippling tabla style drum patterns, once again bringing to life the global tech futurism soundscape of the overarching record. AUTiSM‘s unique sound design hold the record together, leading us into Dullgreen.
With reversed sounds and a boundless synth, the dynamic nature of what AUTiSM offers is tangible with this composition. Dramatic plucked strings evoke us further, and the cinematic side of the composer is unveiled.
Like A River Inside the Ocean opens with a spoken word announcement of the title, an elegant and luxurious synth with astral nuance. We feel at one and in a state of peace. The next track is Steel Breath which takes on a magnetic and industrial approach, whilst Flicker delivers glitchtronica before an ethereal and melodic finale.
This leads us to Hidden Pix which reignites the originally high octane energy from the record with a boundless synth and dimensional percussion. The build is hypnotizing and the submerged final moments generate curiosity before the ultimate track, Acute Angles.
Comprised of risers and ASMR-style vocals, we are enticed before a beat unveils itself to take us on a psychedelic trip tying together all of the elements that we have experienced up to this point in time on the record. The cohesive nature of what AUTiSM creates is not lost on us and Acute Angles has us yearning for more.
Speaking on the progressive record, which is undeniably ahead of its time, AUTiSM, also known as artist Vadim Militsin, confesses, “I invented a special sound processing technique at that time: each steam of the track – hi-hats, for example – was split into highs, mids, and lows. I would treat each of those sub-steams with a separate sound effect, and then I would put them back together. I don’t know if anyone else has done anything like that back then.”
He continues, “When I think of this album as something tangible, I imagine some kind of huge alien machine which is rushing underwater.”