White Noise Transformed to Melody
Rontronik is an experimental project created by composer Ronald Croudy. Croudy runs a small label based in New York City by the name of Töshöklabs, where he has been releasing music since 1999. With the release of Zero Eight, Croudy has leaned fairly heavily toward the feeling of industrial noise. Zero Eight, almost works as one 40 minute track, with each song seamlessly blending into the next. The first track “Zero Eight One” opens with birdlike synths and a rising background of white noise. This noise quickly overtakes the synths and comes to the foreground of the track. The noise sounds like waves in the ocean mixed with a copy printer that has a paper jam. The comparison to a printer isn’t made to knock the sound, however one might find themselves wishing for a bit more variation as the song, and album go on.
The next few tracks are similar to “Zero Eight One.” There is the addition of percussion coming into play, flickering in and out of track, yet harsh white noise is still the foreground of the music in “Zero Eight Two” and “Zero Eight Three.”
“Zero Eight Four” is where the tracks begin to take on unique qualities, offering immediate glitches and switch ups on the synths that are being used. Percussion also becomes more apparent in the mix as bass heavy kick drums and thin clicks can be heard fluctuating throughout the track. As “Zero Eight Four” continues, small melodies begin to appear. While they don’t stay long, these are welcome additions to the track allowing the listener to cling to something while being fed extremely experimental noise music.
The second half of this album offers a lot more to its audience. The highlight of this comes at “Zero Eight Eight,” which is unmistakably the climax of the project. The sound starts as a guttural white noise, adding in elements of electronica as the track plays out. A metronomic beat is played in the background as the electronic elements and white noise get more intense until, slowly yet surely, the song recedes back to the sounds of the first half of the album.
The album closes with “Zero Eight Nine” and “Zero Eight Ten,” which continue the trend of receding back to the original style of noise that opens the album. However, the familiar white noise becomes increasingly unfamiliar as more and more distortion finds its way into the track.
Zero Eight is an interesting album that was obviously made with a strong love of the craft itself. At its lowest points the music might start to feel monotonous, however at its peaks the album achieves a sound that could fit in as the score for a cyberpunk movie directed by David Cronenberg.
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