- The longtime anonymous techno producer shows another side of their sound.
- Fair play to Pom Pom. Whoever they are, they're bloody dedicated to the anonymous artist thing. Whether it's because of public interest, practicality or something else, usually the mask slips—ask Burial, Redshape, Tiger & Woods, A Sagittariun, Rivet, René Pawlowitz and countless others who began projects secretively. But Pom Pom has now been releasing no-info black labels for the best part of 20 years without breaking cover (a couple comments on Discogs and Reddit link the project to the Space Hall record shop in Berlin without naming anyone directly). And you couldn't blame them if they did: plenty of credit is due for their huge and regularly brilliant back catalogue. The roughly 50 releases contain most shades of techno, united by a sense of adventure that sometimes borders on absurdity, and a fondness for noisy productions and brazen samples (Chris Isaak, Prince, Arthur Russell, Fad Gadget, Corey Hart/Tiga among them). Discogs also lists a couple of their releases as ambient (the music isn't available online to check this), which is pertinent information in light of Untitled ll, this new album for the Ostgut Ton sub-label A-TON.
It seems that after two decades, Pom Pom wants to say something different. A few days ago on SoundCloud, they posted what was billed as their first-ever DJ mix, a sprawling five-and-a-half-hour session that was listed as ambient but did feature some dark club beats. Their two recent appearances at Berghain were both in the Elektroakustischer Salon, the rarely-opened space where the club hosts ambient and experimental sets. "Another side of Pom Pom," read the one-line press release, and yes, there is little on Untitled ll that could be described as outright techno. What we get instead appears to be an exploration of the broader influences that have fuelled the Pom Pom project.
The uneasy mood on Untitled ll has shown up often in Pom Pom's music, but here it's as if they've traced it right back to the source and reimagined the original influence. There are skewed takes on post-punk, ambient and electro. The '80s looms large in the record's spirit and execution. Dark as it is, there are moments of beauty and a pleasing amount of variety. This all makes the album a good fit for A-TON, a label set up to release alternative and ambient sounds and present different sides of an established artist's musical personality.
Untitled ll has plenty going for it, but there are perhaps too few moments of awe, of raw inspiration, to fully elevate it. The tracks that come closest are the least typical of Pom Pom. "Untitled 7" and "Untitled 13" are both quietly stunning, with ongoing developments enriching the gentle atmospheres. Near the other end of Pom Pom's range, the two dance tracks are strong as well. "Untitled 8" evokes the warmer end of the Drexciya catalogue. "Untitled 11" has a little bleep techno swagger in its synths and drums. The remainder of the album is summarised by the midsection. "Untitled 9" features the biggest gated-reverb on its snare you'll hear this year, while "Untitled 10" runs with the agitated '80s mood at a much faster tempo, doubling its chubby kick drums to a gallop. Both are interesting, but not much more. Untitled ll never quite catches fire, then, but it's a welcome new dimension for Pom Pom's music. Coming out through an Ostgut Ton-related label, it's also likely to introduce more people to the singular wormhole that is their back catalogue.
Tracklist01. Untitled 6
02. Untitled 7
03. Untitled 8
04. Untitled 9
05. Untitled 10
06. Untitled 11
07. Untitled 12
08. Untitled 13