OAKE

OAKE is a duo of musicians from Berlin consisting of Eric Goldstein and Bathseba Zippora. OAKE’s sound is a combination of hulking beauty, haunting ethereal soundscapes, urban bleakness and dark romanticism. Musically it is difficult to pin down, but their heavyweight melodicism and precise rhythmics hint at the cold sharpness of techno with a touch of harsh industrial aesthetics or even the slow-paced gloominess of doom metal. OAKE’s expressionist theatrical stance and dramaticism serve as a counter-statement for occasionally emotionless electronic music, which often lacks poeticism and passion. Their sound shapes a separate world where the surrounding fears and tensions of modern life merge with the introspective journeys and artistic minds of two individuals. Their last album, “Auferstehung”, released on Downwards records, is an excellent illustration of these points – a unique sonic narrative showcasing their creative potential.

In the records

STM 170 is a mammoth two-hour selection, which connects various forms of dark electronica and incorporates such diverse genres as dark ambient, heavy techno or gritty noise, but never abandons the monolithic rhythmic spine. All throughout its lengthy span the mixtape does not lose the grip and maintains a consistent, yet always evolving and shifting dynamic, tension, unexpected culminations and climaxes. The murky experimentalism of Jar Moff stands next to the futuristic dystopian sonics of Stephanie Sykes and later explodes with raw deconstructed and industrialised techno outbursts from Akkord and Mogano. There are also some excursions into the sonics of bass with Senking’s slowly crawling “Serpent” or the wild piece by Shackleton, as well as the totally insane and electrified rhythmic attacks by such underground stalwarts as Szeb or JoyB. However, this musical narrative also contains some poetic ambient floatings with the inclusions of excellent nocturnal wanderings by Ancestral Voices, the noir pulses of Cio D’or and the minimal/synth wave of Eastern Renaissance. The second part of the mix is a solid and uncompromising techno attack always operating on a high level and leaving no time for rest.

Leo Leuppi’s abstract painting “Series” could be an interesting visual interpretation of OAKE’s mix. For instance, Leuppi was instinctively merging opposing art movements such as constructivism, concrete art and surrealism, and through this process he created his own undogmatic style of constructive art with surrealistic twists. It seems OAKE was in the same path as Leuppi when they were constructing their musical collage, because they find a brilliant balance between a mysteriously futurist atmosphere, straightforward beats, and between harsh industrial strokes and hypnagogic patterns of differently cut melodies. In the end, this mix creates a feeling of being within the presence of a constructive type of nature where organic and artificial sound coexists in harmony.