Dadanaut – Reaktokratie
Dadanaut – Reaktokratie – EP Review
As we continue our journey into the latest by Dadanaut…
Reaktokratie begins with a track called “Gleichtakt” that slowly builds up to its boiling point, and pretty much celebrates its odd combination of its culmination by staying locked into that moment until it’s finished. If you read my review on Dadanaut’s Phantasmagorien EP from yesterday, you’ll recognize the formula…the music builds, it peaks, it demonstrates fairly few changes from there on-forward, and then it ends. I don’t know that I’d go quite as far as to say wash, rinse, repeat – but there is clearly a method that works for Dadanaut, and this digitally-based project sticks very closely to that script, even as the sounds change from song to song. The approach remains consistent, for better or for worse I suppose. If Dadanaut stumbles onto something absolutely compelling, it’s a huge win for everyone out there listening. If it’s middle of the road, or doesn’t quite measure up to something you’ve heard along the way, the listening becomes much more challenging. I like the intensity at the heart of a track like “Gleichtakt,” and I appreciate its array of unique sound. I’m also very realistic about Dadanaut’s music in the sense that it is very obviously not something everyone out there is gonna connect with, but for what it’s worth, I think tracks like “Gleichtakt” are interesting and well worth the time to listen. Heck, this one might come as a bargain in that respect, because by the time you’re into it, it’s already over.
At just over two-minutes in length, “Gleichtakt” is definitely one of the shortest tunes you’ll likely find in any corner of Dadanaut’s catalog. Six-minutes usually seems to be the average, which is around the total time you’ll find “Siegerlaune” playing for. While the methods/approach are still going to be a little similar from track to track, a six minute cut does allow Dadanaut more time to flex a few more dynamics should it be so inclined. “Siegerlaune” is probably one of those cuts I’m more on the fence about than others. What I like about it, is that Dadanaut moves in a very bold & decisive way as the song shifts from part to part, and that it does have a bit more variation in that regard. What I’m not as jazzed about is the core of the ideas here…I’m not really finding a whole lot that’s gonna get me coming back to “Siegerlaune” for another listen, and it seems to kind of wander a bit aimlessly in search of something substantial. Does it ever end up finding it? I don’t know that I can say that it does. As with most of what Dadanaut creates, the production is solid, the sound selection has variety, and it does seem like yet another adventure into the unknown, unexplored, and experimental side of music – ultimately, that’s admirable stuff. Even when an idea doesn’t always land like we might want it to as creative artists, the attempt is always still appreciate by yours truly over here. “Siegerlaune” reminds me a bit of the music we experienced on Twofish’s album At Least A Hundred Fingers, just less involved to a larger degree. Maybe I ended up being somewhat biased against “Siegerlaune” – I had a real hard time with the downshift in the melody around the 1:20 mark and felt like it was tough for this song to recover from there. I do love some of the more searing tones and frequencies you’ll find…and as I’ve often said in the past regarding Dadanaut’s music, even in the tracks you don’t connect with, there’s still gonna be something cool for you to find in’em along the way, which still remains to be true with “Siegerlaune.”
I find “Gegensehzelle” to be a very pretty song…love the way that it opens, and I love the way that it seems to gently shift itself into a more mysterious vibe without going too far overboard. In many ways, I’d tell ya that this is essentially the standard definition of what a Dadanaut track is really like to listen to and/or experience. Similar to what I’ve heard in this project in the past, but also a large part of the reasons that I still enjoy Dadanaut’s music today…it straddles the realm between the mystery in the unknown, and our dreams. Somewhere in the middle of those places, you find Dadanaut thriving, and tracks like “Gegensehzelle” come into existence…almost like a fleeting memory that we only get tiny snapshots of, but feel that extraordinary connection to like we know it’s a part of who we are. You feel that strange but familiar connection to a song like “Gegensehzelle,” like it’s somehow always been a part of our soundtrack…and as a result, it’s got a very naturally appealing to its delicate digital vibes.
A lot of the tracks on this record are shorter than the typical length we associate with Dadanaut’s tunes, which felt like it gave Reaktokratie a bit more of its own unique flavor. Songs like “Gleichtakt” at the start, or “Agitation” later on in the lineup tend to fly by pretty quickly, but with the Dadanaut tried, tested, and true approach to music-making, you get the gist fairly quickly as well. “Agitation” felt like something new in the catalog though, and I dig that…this whole song felt like it was a bit of an updated take on what Dadanaut can do. While it’s noticeably less gentle and moves with a more frantic pace, you can still audibly hear the bold decisions that Dadanaut takes in the craft – that’s one of the best things about the music you’ll find in this project…most of the time, it’s created with real intention and purpose behind every note & tone you’ll hear. “Agitation” is infused with all kinds of subtle digital atmospheric sounds in behind what you’ll find on the surface, which makes for a real shapeshifting type of song that is essentially doing a whole bunch of things at once and moving in several different directions are the same time. Prismatic, or kaleidoscopic…that kind of thing…no matter which way you end up listening to a song like “Agitation,” you’re bound to get something new out of it that you probably didn’t in the last time you listened to it, which essentially makes it all sound new, every time.
To compensate a little bit for these shorter tunes, Dadanaut brings out a much longer one – “Friedensdeklamation” – which is nearly eleven minutes in total. It’s no different than an actor you love making three blockbuster Marvel movies in a row and then going back to do a small arthouse indie film afterwards…sometimes you simply have to balance the scales, you know what I mean? Shorter tracks might have been a significant compromise to achieve a greater level of accessibility, perhaps…but yeah – no one out there in their right mind would assume an eleven-minute track would be accessible to the masses…that just ain’t how things work, no matter how much any of us might wish it could be possible. Even at Dadanaut’s usual tendency of hovering around the six-minute mark…even that is still technically too long by today’s attention standards…and obviously it just gets exponentially tougher from there. I’d even say that most of those six-minute tunes from Dadanaut’s catalog usually work out better than most folks would assume they would…but I’d probably tell ya that eleven is likely a bridge too far. Dadanaut’s just got such a defined style of building towards something, and staying locked into that ‘something’ once the song gets there…there are still changes, yes, but they’re so slight that most listeners would barely even notice them, even if the song is consistently moving around, like “Friedensdeklamation” is. So when that’s the case, the extra length usually becomes more of an obstacle rather than a benefit like I’m sure it’s intended to be. Instead, this is where Dadanaut is rolling the dice a bit, and gambling on people liking the main sound at the core of the idea. If they do, then right on – eleven minutes would be more than welcome. If they don’t, then obviously that’s gonna be an issue beyond repair. I don’t know that “Friedensdeklamation” does enough to keep listeners fully engaged with it…I’d probably suspect that it falls a bit short of that, to be truthful. As a six-minute track, “Friedensdeklamation” would likely still feel too long for most listeners out there. Sometimes we stretch an idea too thin, and Dadanaut has done that in instances in the past as well…so there’s a bit of precedent here in that regard. I dig that this song has a high degree of ice-like atmospheric elements to it, and these kind of pulsing, droplets of sound that can definitely be fun to listen to…but yeah…still not sure there’s enough here to fully warrant the length it has. “Friedensdeklamation” would have likely made for a great four minute cut at the max. That being said, there is still some value in this being the enormous length that it is without having it make too many changes along the way…it’s got a peaceful, meditative vibe to it that can be appealing in its own way. You won’t be singing along with “Friedensdeklamation,” but you can zone right out to it.
Ooooooo! What’s this? “Zeitschleife” sounds extremely interesting to me right off the bat, every time. It’s got a highly tribal kind of vibe to it…you know, like the kind of sound our ancestors would have been dancing around the fire to, long ago. It also sounds like it was practically made by an entire band, which is neat for a Dadanaut song too. I think in the entire lineup of songs on Reaktokratie, this is the closest I’ve heard to something like “Eisenkernspule” in a similarly exciting way…and that’s, well, exciting! This is a quality tune though, no doubt about it – “Zeitschleife” captures a magic that Dadanaut has been doing so very well as of late. From the experimental ideas at the core of it, that are explored with such glorious confidence, to the stunning sound selection that forms this entire song, Dadanaut has once again really found a way to blend the curious & mysterious into one fantastic & memorable experience. I don’t expect a lot of folks out there to fully understand just how tough it can be to create identifiable songs in the instrumental realm, but believe me when I tell ya, it’s extremely hard. Most music really needs some sort of chorus or vocals to help a song establish its identity, but Dadanaut has proven many times that it can be done through exceptional sound selection and sonic uniqueness. Personally, I think that’s very cool, and again, so much tougher than most listeners would ever realize. I’d not only end up recognizing a song like “Zeitschleife” long after I stopped playing it I’m sure, but I’d also be able to specifically tag it to Dadanaut’s catalog based on how it’s executed as well. While I get that I’m not going to be the rule so much as the exception in that regard, you start to understand how that is done after being able to separate different instrumental bands and artists through their identity…soon enough, you’re able to hear the difference between something like Explosions In The Sky and Mogwai easily, or between an Aphex Twin and a Squarepusher…that kind of thing. While it’s probably fair to point out that a track like “Zeitschleife” is perhaps a bit more on the outside of what Dadanaut tends to create to a degree, there are enough of these kinds of compelling tracks in the catalog to build the kind of familiarity we’re talkin’ about. Ultimately, that goes a long, long way to establishing identity overall.
The final track on this album, I might like even more than “Zeitschleife” if I’m being truthful with ya – it’s called “Drahtmeldung.” It’s one of those songs that nearly defies description, you know? It has this highly unique, playful and innocent vibe to it…and it feels a whole lot different than the rest of the music that we’ve been exploring on Reaktokratie, or the Phantasmagorien EP from the day before. Not that I need things to be different when it comes to the music of Dadanaut – I’m a fan, I always find something to enjoy in Dadanaut’s music…but it is nice to hear this project continue to find new avenues to flourish and thrive within as well. There’s something about the creative spirit in Dadanaut that never ceases to amaze me when it comes right down to it…there’s a desire to find those new things we haven’t heard before, and it’s an aspect of this digitally-based Electro project that I truly admire. I listen to “Drahtmeldung” and I suppose the best words I could use to describe it would be like…humble…earnest…sincere…and meaningful. Symbolic in a sense, or sonically metaphoric – you feel like “Drahtmeldung” is the kind of song that represents a part of your DNA or a memory you’ve held onto from long ago when you still viewed the world with the wonder-filled eyes of a child. It sounds like hope, potential, and possibility, all rolled into one beautiful experience…believe me when I tell ya, it’s a true gem…understated to the point where I don’t know if listeners will quite notice it in comparison to the track that just played right before it, but so special that I certainly hope you don’t miss it either. It’s a wonderful song to finish this record off with – “Drahtmeldung” would be right up there with the best from Dadanaut for sure in my opinion…I could listen to this song for hours on end, and never complain.
Find out more about Dadanaut from the official website at: https://dadanaut.de
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