Perishable Tactics Carsten Jost

n the midst of a busy year, full of wildly-varied accomplishments, David Lieske (aka Carsten Jost) has surprised us all with an unannounced 11-track full-length album on Dial-- his first since 2000’s “You Don’t Need A Weatherman…” In the interim he’s kept busy curating countless releases on Dial, the label he co-runs with Peter “Lawrence” Kersten, celebrated a 15 year label anniversary with an all-encompassing 2LP/various artists’ compilation, released a gallery-edition album of his black ambient collaboration Misanthrope CA with Robert Kulisek, “Deathbridge" and launched a new magazine project (also with Kulisek) named after the speed of light i.e. “299792458m/s”. All this activity, even after his recent trans-atlantic relocation from Berlin to New York City, mainly to open the American branch of Mathew Gallery has surely taken us all by welcome surprise.

Out of all of the Dial house and techno artists, Carsten Jost has always represented the most precise brand of exquisitely doom-laden house, laced with equally strong doses of melancholy and beauty. Here on “Perishable Tactics”, Lieske runs through his distinctively stealthy low-slung beat-mospheres, leaning towards a decidedly low-lit and sultry space, but mixed with a fresh, gently arc-ing feeling of romance and dare I say it?―Love(?) Tellingly he’s seen it fit to include 2007’s “Love”-one of his best e.p. tracks from a split release with Efdemin. But while “Love” represents a climbing and yearning towards a place where love might reside, the remaining new tracks debuting here seem to represent a place where this love actually exists. This feeling is woven into his deep, medium tempo, detroit-inflected house rhythms, accented with crystalline keys, disembodied voices at times and gently soaring strings. While anger may be less in the forefront here it is important to notice that these tracks are ripe with the balance of joy and unease inherent in house. There is definitely a newfound languidity here that feels particularly like a moment shared by two (perhaps amongst many) but the atmosphere still remains decidedly pensive. See “Ambush” with it’s strolling beat, moody yet sweet chords and chilling atmosphere later joined by thunder cracking in an almost-approving-manner a safe-distance away.

Of course diehard fans will find satisfaction knowing that Lieske’s delectable angst hasn’t completely abated. Title track “Perishable Tactics” takes a disarmingly peaceful setting and rolls a heavy fog over it to herald a sure-to-arrive fate that awaits us all. (See also “Army Green”.). But with “Dawn Patrol" the whispering hi-hat and gently clanking rhythm offset by rolling strings marries the old and new Carsten Jost most successfully. All of this atmosphere bookended by ambient intro and outro tracks by Misanthrope CA make for a perfectly foreboding, elegant and deliciously dark new album release by Carsten Jost.