Rrose

Rrose’s graphic, systematic selection connects 19 records released between 1965 and 2013. This compilation features the works of American composers including Terry Riley, Charlemagne Palestine, and Alvin Lucier, carefully combined with recordings from electronic artists such as Pan Sonic, Farben, The Haxan Cloak, and Lee Gamble, creating a scenic and continuous listening experience.

Sustained sound and repetition

The return of Alvin Lucier’s “Wire III” makes acoustic process part of the mix’s structure. Lee Gamble’s unstable rhythmic environment connects that sustained sound to electronic production.

Rrose is a techno producer, performer and DJ whose pseudonym is inspired by Marcel Duchamp’s fictional persona Rrose Sélavy (Eros, c’est la vie). The Rrose project emerged in 2011, but the individual behind it is far from a newcomer to the music scene. Having delved into the depths of electronic music and various art mediums since the early 1990s, Rrose has developed a solid foundation in both musical and managerial knowledge. Rrose is known for maintaining a certain level of anonymity, stating, “I’m not trying to remain anonymous per se, just trying to occupy a tidy, humble place on the internet and keep the project as self-contained as possible.”

Rrose has released numerous records on the legendary Sandwell District label and on the imprint Eaux. Rrose has also collaborated with notable artists such as Bob Ostertag, Dadub, Matmos, and Minilogue. Rrose’s work is characterized by strict rhythms, repetitive hypnotic patterns, and the meticulous use of hardware effects. Following mixes for Resident Advisor and Electronique.it, this contribution reveals another side of Rrose’s listening.

The mix develops through its ideas, techniques and emotional movement. The structural and conceptual development of this mix is deliberate, precise, and tactful. The impression that this mix is a long, sustained composition never fades throughout the listening experience. Rrose deeply explores shapeless and experimental sounds that transcend the club-music structures typically associated with their personal creations.

The mix’s foundation is built on prolonged sweeping atmospheres, formless rhythmic convulsions, and a three-dimensional sonorous space. The background is rich with diverse percussion, tribal motifs, and digitized field recordings that appear intermittently. The skilled and expressive use of various hardware in each included piece enriches the overall composition with detail and vividness. Imaginative and hypnotic rhythmic sequences arise at just the right moments, ensuring that attention and sensation are maintained until the very end.

Depth and perception

The Haxan Cloak’s “Consumed” introduces another scale of dark, spatial composition. Éliane Radigue’s work, conceived for different playback speeds, opens a further perspective on how sound is perceived.

The selection is akin to Marcel Duchamp’s complex cubist painting “Sad Young Man in a Train,” with its murky surroundings and the subordination of representational fidelity to abstract composition. The blurred, theatrically colored “moving” landscape in the painting reflects an alternative narrative perspective. Rrose’s mix seems to carry an idea related to early Italian Futurists, who emphasized and glorified themes associated with contemporary concepts of the future, including speed, technology, novelty, and even violence.