Jan-Christoph Wolter has been highly active again for quite some time and indeed the world also seems more than ready for new material from Christoph de Babalon. Finally, that means, because albums like »If You’re Into It, I’m Out Of It« were light years ahead of their time in terms of music and sound when they were originally released. An EP for AD 93 last year is now followed by four tracks on Super Hexagon that sound almost restrained by his standards. »The Upper Hand« rolls out a midtempo breakbeat over a grumbling drone soundbed and only picks up momentum towards the end, »I Trusted You« is a kind of breakcore/IDM hybrid with a melancholic yet warm note. By focusing on the atmosphere, Wolter also underlines his qualities as a sound designer—the mix is wonderfully detailed even in musically reduced moments. On the flipside, he then overloads it on »Steps Into Solitude« with one of the overwhelming sub-basses this side of a The Bug live set. And yet the track plays with dynamics, which he separates from each other by abrupt changes: the humming crescendo leads to nowhere, the restrained rhythms and swirling chords of the other part never take on a life of their own. A strange piece of music consisting of two quite different parts that only find their way to each other towards the end. »Got to Let Go« integrates its internal contrasts—sustained organ tones and a restless breakcore beat—more consistently. Thus, »Leaving Time« closes on the abrasive, dystopian note that has always characterised the work of Christoph de Babalon and which nowadays sounds even more urgent than ever before.
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