Adieu missing entities
A cold day in hell eventually arrives
A jouissance, a pleasure principle
A nano-theatrical spectral simulacra.
In an attempt to hijack “my” conscience
From the prism of the witches & wizards
“I” saw “your” atheist considerations
Crystallized
& a corporation of sans moments catching fire.
Still laughing while crying
Still crying while laughing
Still having thoughts while not thinking
Still thinking while having no thoughts
Still
S
t
i
l
l
.
Standing.
I wish I could be post-colonized
& all this warfare never becomes a memory
You make me comatose famed friend
You squelch the horizon linguistic friend
May I question your authorities
Friend¿
Or will I end up in the hospital¿
Foe¿
An A.I. mother purchased me
A microchip she prescribed for me
Artificial colors she coded in me
Resonating sounds she trained me with
& the probability of my existence she diced with
P(My Existence) = ¿
about
One could count in the triumphs of capitalism the way it exploits and recycles the escapism of those suffering under its regime. Specter, Spectrum, Speculum is an album about such haunting thoughts, as well as other things that seem impossible to escape. It is an introspective fold, a mass of fluffy darkness collapsing through internal suction, an osmotic process of alienation, affirmation, and coping with it all.
The album belongs in the wide range of media-based practices that comprise Babak Ahteshamipour’s artistic output, which include painting, video art and digital art. As such, it is part of the same universe of cultural references, appropriation, critique, and irony that characterises his work in general. Central in Babak’s work is the way he negotiates violence and trauma — such as the anxieties of environmental collapse, neoliberal economies, western supremacy, and war — through mock playfulness and jest. In his visual work, he appropriates references from pop culture to conceal feelings of sheer terror under a neurotically splashed veneer of funny. To the same effect, he appropriates in his music the tropes and aesthetics of feel-good video game music, twisting their soothing familiarity into moods that span from ironic ennui to sugar-choked despair.
Specter, Spectrum, Speculum is full of electroacoustic experimentations that draw from the aforementioned sources, as well as sampling of acoustic instruments, and particularly extended piano techniques. Heavily improvised in almost its entirety, the album is a series of linear, open-form compositions that steer away from more structured forms. Percussive rhythmicality, ambient soundscapes, and distortion create a rich musical landscape, whose uncanny amelodia reinforces the overall sense of uneasiness and brooding anxiety. Meanwhile, the spine of the album’s opening, middle, and closing tracks is vocals by Babak himself, singing and reciting his own cryptic texts.
Speculum is the Latin word for mirror, but is also the name of a medical instrument for the examination of bodily orifices, and more commonly the vagina. We could therefore listen to this album as an internal examination, as if a hardened carapace is turned inside-out like a glove to reveal the throbbing softness of a dark interior. Playfulness is the key concept here, only not as in a game that is meant to please, but to unsettle. It’s about orchestrating a comical war of chubby Boos, but also revealing that sometimes, harmless specters are made to seem as dangerous as war itself. Essentially a self-portrait as much as a reflection of the world today, the album presents us with a mysterious toolkit for interpretation: a ghost, a mirror, and a field of possibilities.
Text by Kiriakos Spirou
credits
released June 24, 2022
Released by the Independent Cassette label Industrial Coast
Recorded, mixed and mastered at Syn Ena Recording Studio by Costas Stergiou, Athens, Greece
Artwork and design by Babak Ahteshamipour
Marvelous experimental music from this Tel Aviv musician that fuses outré noise with almost folk-like arrangements. Bandcamp New & Notable Aug 13, 2022
The mallet percussionist and improviser's solo debut is flush with nostalgic melodies and stirring dissonances—a rich, experimental universe well worth exploring. Bandcamp Album of the Day Jan 15, 2021