Radian - Juxtaposition

Sparse, tense post-rock on revered Chicago label, Thrill Jockey. The sound of a present gradually more abstract, more and more entangled with the future as we delve into the 21st century. Paving the path for Moritz Von Oswald Trio and other experimentations in post-dub, post-techno and post-rock music.

In the mid 2000's, one could easily identify two clearly diverging tendencies in electronic music, whatever the genre was: an appeal for 1980's synth-driven pop sounds on one hand - from Soft Cell to the Human League - and then, on the other hand, a will to go beyond pre-existing genres, to create a music that was intensely contemporary, because, eventually post everything (alternative rock, techno, you name it). Radian's music belongs to that second tendency.

On Juxtaposition, the Viennese band advocates for a seamless fusion of acoustic and electronic sounds. It is a challenging LP, both sonically and theoretically, as the band tries to - and eventually successfully  - attain a balance between the necessarily abstract nature of a music reflecting the gradually more blurred distinction between the virtual and the offline world, and a visceral groove, the secret legacy of rock music that always appealed to the body before the mind.

Juxtaposition offers an oscillating structure, with several climaxes, evenly dispatched throughout the record. But the most beautiful moments happen in between these climaxes, in the middle of the curve, when the balance between electronic grit and acoustic bliss is reached: on "Vertigo", "Helix", and the time-stopping wonder "Nord".

Radian's music will always feel more challenging than the optimistic pop anthems of the 00's but it eventually achieves what the latter cannot, to defy genre, time and space, and to efficiently deterritorialize music. (VG+/NM still in shrink)

Tracklist

1. Shift
2. Vertigo
3. Rapid Eye Movement
4. Transistor
5. Helix
6. Ontario
7. Tester
8. Nord