“The Afrorack” EP released on Hakuna Kulala is a reminder of the full spectrum potential of the modular as Afrorack shapes waveforms into cowbells and chimes with humming and rich soundscapes, percussive shapes of indeterminate material and origin, and sequenced in complex and evolving patterns.
This is a project by, but not necessarily only for, serious modular nerds. To make it, Bamanya built his own custom rack by necessity out of handmade circuits because of the relative difficulty of sourcing modular components in Uganada. The project sounds like a particularly personal and exciting exercise in a sound handcrafted out of meticulous modular waveshaping, Afrofuturism, and serious love for process. The neverending and often technologically impossible task of translating and recording sounds, one can only imagine is best tackled by devotees of the modular synth, with instruments which are deeply personal. Even more so when the artist has soldered them together from scratch.
In tracks like “Last Modular” ghostly, haunted ripples of ambient give way to a more methodical, but still sinister run of modular sequencing, sounding like the assembly line of a factory putting together some kind of super advanced biometric system; the auditory trace of a complex cybernetic system of parts scanned, reoriented, retrofitted, and bolted together with robotic precision. In other tracks, laconic warbles of retro synth are punctured by percussion made in rhythms that sound like hoards of insects batting against the aluminum roof of an old car. The modular arrangements create impressive space and depth, while some elements cut right through with a heft that can only be produced on hardware, with other layers contributing a cinematic ominous personality, frayed with gauze and texture. The sound elements communicate fluently as though specifically notched and retrofitted for their particular place in the overall framework.
Brian Bamanya, a.k.a Afrorack, who built Africa’s first DIY synthesizer, says himself of modular, “that which is the same with the modular synthesizer: you have an oscillator, a VCA and all these envelopes. For it to create something meaningful, everything has to work together to create harmony.”
“The Afrorack” EP is a reminder of the full spectrum potential of the modular as Afrorack shapes waveforms which nod simultaneously to the past and future of the techno ethos, to sound patterns with roots that stretch from Detroit to the Middle East, and even further afoot.
-Winston Mann
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