The Science of How Things Unfold – Futexture (2012)

Album artwork for The Science of How Things Unfold

When I feature music on this site, I frequently refer to albums as “listening experiences” as opposed to just a collection of tracks.  I think this is an important distinction to make – music is created as an art to appreciate, enjoy, and be inspired by, not just a utility to be consumed and discarded.  Different artists aim to create different types of these “experiences” with their music.  In the case of Ben Lukas Boysen, his new album Gravity  was created as a deeply personal, meditative experience.  Brian Setzer’s The Dirty Boogie was more of an upbeat swing experience to inspire dancing and grooving.  This is a foundational aspect of music, and part of what makes it so beautiful: incredible diversity in both style and intent.  So today, we’ll be looking at an artist with a whole new philosophy behind his music.  That artist is David Krantz, more commonly known as Futexture.

Futexture is one of those artists who is able to make electronic music sound like a true extension of his mind and body, as if he were playing it in real time like any other instrumentalist.  This is a remarkable achievement, considering the challenges that “robot music” has posed to its innovators when compared to traditional live musicianship.  With Futexture, however, there is no lack of creativity or authenticity.  None of his music sounds like a groove that’s been copied and pasted several times in succession.  I have this mental image of artists like this creating and manipulating their music with their mind, willing each individual sound or timbre to move in correlation with the others.  Although that may seem like an idealistic notion (or is it?), the point here is that Futexture’s sounds completely natural, enough so to inspire such a lofty vision.

Kinetik – Phutureprimitive (2011)

Album artwork for Kinetik

For me, Phutureprimitive was a gateway artist.  I first really got into electronic music through the heavy dance scene of Miami, Florida – home of Ultra Music Festival and a thousand of the most exclusive clubs America has to offer.  It’s easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of who’s dropping the latest electro-dubstep-moombah-house tracks in such an atmosphere.  I soon realized, however, that such a fast-paced market was lacking two main characteristics: artistic individuality and longevity.  All the songs sound the same, and each week there’s a new hit record to replace the last one.  And yes, of course there are exceptions (Savant and GRiZ, to name a few), just as there are in any situation.  But the point here is that there’s a big difference between a half-heartedly embellished four-on-the-floor beat, created for the sake of keeping the nightclubs packed, and inspired, musically creative electronic music.  It was through this quest for more meaningful artistic vision that I came across Phutureprimitive for the first time.

Here is an artist who has demonstrated an incredible knack for producing high quality, high fidelity electronic music that remains authentic in the face of emotionless banality.  “Lush melodies drift across intricate rhythms, groove-heavy beats and warm, fuzzy bass lines. Often exploring a dark and dense palette, his music also manages to convey a sense of tranquility and beauty, engaging the listener into hypnotic movement and often escalating toward a full kinetic experience.”

ISM – Savant (2012)

Album artwork for ISM

Anyone who has ever attempted to produce electronic music knows that it’s a lot harder than it sounds. To be frank, it’s damn difficult.  With the dramatic rise in popularity of electronic dance music in recent years, producers have been expanding their horizons sonically, leading to the development of several new subgenres.  The new wave of dubstep, brought to the public eye by the (in)famous Skrillex, often referred to as “brostep,” is a perfect example. Love it or hate it, no one can argue against the fact that the compositional attitude of such artists has taken a dramatic turn towards a much more complex mindset.  In my mind, this movement is simply a reflection on how we, as a species, have a continuous desire for innovation in our creative pursuits – one of the most remarkable traits of our intelligence.

Let’s dial our focus in a bit.  Aleksander Vinter, more commonly known by his artist moniker, Savant, is a producer from Norway who has been making increasingly large waves in the electronic music community.  His first album, Outbreak, which was released back in 2009, was nominated for a Norwegian Grammy Award, and two of his most recent albums, Vario and Overworld, reached #1 on Beatport’s list of Top 100 Releases.  Here’s the really interesting part: according to his official Facebook page, Vinter is an actual savant with Asperger’s syndrome, and he has been blessed with the gift of extraordinary creative genius.  To quote directly from his biography, “He thinks out songs in seconds and produces them within few hours.  To this date Aleksander has composed / produced over 10.000 songs in various genres. Most notably metal, orchestral / classical, hip-hop and electronic music.”  Not only that, but Savant released four full-length studio albums just in 2012. In other words, his past four albums were all composed, produced, and released in 2012, with the fourth one being released in December.  If that’s not enough intrigue to get you to check out his music, then you may as well stop reading now.