tokyo mask - hinterlands (low impedance)

having heard his previous 'backbone' ep (released by low impedance), which is one of the two eps that tokyo mask aka kostas karamitas has released before the album 'hinterlands', the rhythmic atmosphere that's present on the ep was expected on the album too. comparing the both releases, can be noted that the atmosphere on the ep is more intense, while on 'hinterlands' tokyo mask is developing the music more slowly and patiently. it's a kind of music with a strong tribal mood and sense, even a bit like a ritual music, that reminds of the ritual scene in the movie 'eyes wide shut' and might be suitable for a situation like that. tokyo mask develops the rhythms slowly, while putting the listener in a loop mood, when even the slightest changes have a specific meaning of their own. the roots from where the sound on the album emerges are obviously and clearly in the industrial music and the general atmosphere on the album is very close to industrial music. in almost all of the eight tracks, besides karamitas, there are guest musicians on guitar (manolis melidoniotis) and on bass guitar (kostas kataras). the sound of the bass guitar, for example in 'morning star' and 'oil and stone', is nicely set as a good background and combined with the other sounds gives a distinctive and diverse dub sensibility to the music. there are obviously more aspects in the sound of this album, but the primary are the rhythmic patterns that are absorbing the listener's attention and even forming a kind of drone zone, that is lurking from all the beats that are interfering between each other. the intensive atmosphere on the 'backbone' ep, here is changed into a more subtle approach to the same rhythmic music with a tribal sensibility, a kind of music which execution tokyo mask has crafted to keep it interesting on this album release and makes it curious enough for wanting to see and experience how this style of music would sound played as a live performance. (br)