Kontakte - Transmitter/Receiver
by Paul Raven
published: 8 / 11 / 2007

Label:
Enraptured Records
Format: 7"
intro
Powerful futuristic synth rock on new vinyl only single from British electronic duo Kontakte
You're out for a drive, speeding across a simulated urban landscape of glass and neon, the vast logos of consumer electronics brands flashing past the windows of your vehicle, which is itself, just like you, made entirely of digital signals, cascades of ones and zeros creating complexity out of the simplest possible statements there are ... OK, so that's a bit of a naïve cyberpunkish flight of fancy, but it's the first thing that flashed into my head as I listened to these two tracks by Kontakte. Based on layers of throbbing synthesizer bass and machine percussion, the upper surfaces are comprised of distant squalling guitars, almost psychedelic in tone, howling from over the horizon like lost wolves made from rusting metal. Much like the motorik music of Kraftwerk, who must surely be an influence, Kontakte's instrumental music brings to mind motion – not human motion, but the fast and dispassionate covering of distance that modern transport machinery makes possible. These songs are visions of the world seen at one remove, separated from your direct senses by the glass of the car window ... or your television, your computer screen. It's haunting, but impersonally so - a lurking sense of existential misery flits through the tunes, but it's curiously comforting, despite the gloomy samples from news broadcasts about the first atomic weapons. It's a celebration of the weed-forced cracks in the concrete of modernism, like the audio equivalent of a JG Ballard novel. Perhaps I've been living in the city too long ... but there's something about this that makes me want to hear more.
Track Listing:-
1 Transmitter/Receiver2 Sterile World
Band Links:-
https://www.facebook.com/pages/kontakte/10237621989https://twitter.com/kontaktemusik
http://www.kontaktemusik.com/
Label Links:-
http://www.enraptured-records.com/https://www.youtube.com/user/enrapturedrecords
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Enraptured-Records/210309919017
soundcloud
reviews |
These Machines (2014) |
![]() |
Immediately appealing and upbeat post rock on third album from instrumental trio, Kontakte |
We Move Through Negative Spaces (2011) |
most viewed articles
current edition
Spear Of Destiny - InterviewRobert Forster - Interview
Fiona Hutchings - Interview
When Rivers Meet - Waterfront, Norwich, 29/5/2025
Carl Ewens - David Bowie 1964 to 1982 On Track: Every Album, Every Song
Chris Wade - Interview
Brian Wilson - Ten Songs That Made Me Love...
Shrag - Huw Stephens Session 08.12.10 and Marc Riley Session 21.03.12
Pistol Daisys - Waterfront, Norwich, 29/5/2025
Credits - ARC, Liverpool, 17/5.2025
most viewed reviews
current edition
Peter Doolan - I Am a Tree Rooted to the Spot and a Snake Moves Around Me,in a CircleGarbage - Let All That We Imagine Be The Light
Vinny Peculiar - Things Too Long Left Unsaid
Little Simz - Lotus
John McKay - Sixes and #Sevens
Suzanne Vega - Flying With Angels
HAIM - I Quit
Morcheeba - Escape The Chaos
Vultures - Liz Kershaw Session 16.06.88
Billy Nomates - Metalhorse
Pennyblackmusic Regular Contributors
Adrian Janes
Amanda J. Window
Andrew Twambley
Anthony Dhanendran
Benjamin Howarth
Cila Warncke
Daniel Cressey
Darren Aston
Dastardly
Dave Goodwin
Denzil Watson
Dominic B. Simpson
Eoghan Lyng
Fiona Hutchings
Harry Sherriff
Helen Tipping
Jamie Rowland
John Clarkson
Julie Cruickshank
Kimberly Bright
Lisa Torem
Maarten Schiethart