Clockwork Atom EP Rob Clouth

Rob Clouth's Clockwork Atom EP, the eleventh release from Berlin-based record label, Berghain residency, and nomadic party-starters Leisure System, is a triumph of emotional composition and twisted beats. Recalling Jon Hopkins at his fiercest and Autechre at their most melodic, Clouth has put together something special for peak- time and morning-afters alike, three timeless tracks with bass to massage your ears and melodies to warm your heart. Clouth's creative process is driven by an endless thirst for evolution, resulting in diverse tracks still linked with a thread of re-occurring themes. Title track "Clockwork Atom" is the standout here, balancing thick sub-bass and a player piano line recurring in waves of bliss. The track disintegrates and dissolves before locking back into place, pitting lush movements against menacing rhythms. "Islands of Glass" is the cold stare to "Clockwork Atom's" warm embrace, beginning with richly harmonic undulating textures before jerking the listener across hilly and alien terrain. "The Descent" is slower but no less bedazzling, like a clone coming off an assembly line and being blinded by the sun for the first time. There's certainly a menace at work in all these tracks, but it's softened by the entrancing atmospheres. Welcome to the machine - you'll like it here. The Barcelona-based glitch expert Rob Clouth has released music under both his given name and the alias Vaetxh on labels such as Traum Schallplatten, King Deluxe, and Detroit Underground. In addition to Clouth's music work, he's also a relentless tinkerer and audio architect, designing multiple pieces of experimental software and hardware, including recent work with digitally painting waveforms. This release on Leisure System arose from a desire to better integrate his two distinct recording aliases in one project, emphasizing the dancefloor-focused elements without abandoning past experimentation.