Digital terrorizer DC_33.33, aka Dave Gabriel, comes
from Chicago, and Vela Abridge is his
utter maelstrom of an initial release for Already Dead. Although this isn’t his
first Already Dead rodeo – Gabriel does happen to be half of Imelda Marcos,
whose superb Tatlo (2019) I gushed
over right around here somewhere. We’re happy that he’s back, still releasing
stuff, even if it sounds NOTHING like Imelda Marcos. As DC_33.33, Gabriel
specializes in confrontational electronic mayhem, somewhere on the Autechre
spectrum of computer and synth music, but louder. Probably, anyway – I’m going
with louder.
There’s not a second on Vela Abridge where I feel that my head is made of skull and muscle
and filled with brain; instead, I get the sense that it’s become steel and
hollow, its only occupants a few ball bearings pinging around in there at very
rapid speeds. The pings register in my ear canals somehow, and the tones shift
and change depending on the speed and angle at which the bearings collide with
the walls of my steel skull. If I let myself think about it, a rhythm or
pattern tends to emerge at points, only to devolve back into chaos again for a
while. This process of pattern/chaos repeats, until the entire thing seems like
a pattern.
It may sound like a daunting challenge for you to
allow these objects to whip around at high speeds inside your head, but I
recommend giving it a try – I certainly enjoyed it. I’m also an insane
masochist, so take everything I say with a grain of salt.
(I’m kidding. About everything.)