Bristol-based American James Ginzberg has masqueraded as 30Hz for the past few years, producing crowd pleasing breakbeat numbers and putting them out on his Vertical Sound label. Given his involvement in the founding of seminal dubstep label Tectonic, however, his interest in fare less likely to hit number one on Beatport has been there to see for anyone who cared to look. His new project, Emptyset, probes a sound most easily described as Monolake gone to Bristol. The first two EPs, released on the Future Days imprint, have so far failed quite to hit the mark, but nevertheless forged a distinctive tone consisting of sparse and monochromatic minimal informed by the ever ebullient voice of Bristol bass.
Emptyset’s “Doxa EP,” is the third release on Ginzburg and October’s Caravan Recordings, which slots in somewhere alongside imprints like Apple Pips and 3024. That is to say somewhere between techno and dubstep, although Caravan hews more closely to a techno or minimal style than its peers. Written with Paul Purgas, it’s definitely Emptyset’s strongest material yet. High production values unite the EP, as does a clever interplay between beats and melody which sees them coquettishly refrain from appearing side by side for too long. (When you’re going this stripped down, who needs both?) “Episteme” is the looser of the tracks, the one closer to dubstep. All of its elements sound a touch off-kilter in a pleasing way, but they never quite come together in the way that, say, Villalobos’ more unhinged productions do. “Endoxa,” the A-side, is more successful, with a wicked tautness calling to mind some of the darker stuff to come from the Berghain camp recently, but at the same time retains a whiff of slovenly bass. These make for strange bedfellows, but in a way that’s engaging, not off-putting. This could certainly go down a treat in the right moment in a loud, dark room.
On its own, though, “Endoxa” is a little unsatisfying; because for all the discipline of its minimalism there is something of a lack of structure. Some melody is introduced, but not enough to form much of a musical narrative across the length of the song. The clearest example is a subtle harmony that comes to the foreground towards the end and takes on an almost hymnal quality, but doesn’t persuade that this track is much of a hymn. Still, the auspicious feeling of novelty hangs about this release. Even if it hasn’t yet come to fruition, the hard work Emptyset has done to carve out new territory in techno suggests great things to come.
“The first two EPs, released on the Future Days imprint, have so far failed quite to hit the mark…” Don’t think many would agree that this is a fair assessment of the Acuphase EP. Both Acuphase and Displacement Activity are stunning tracks…beautiful, minimal dub-tech aesthetic. Comparison to Villalobos is redundant ; Emptyset’s sound is all about understatement.
I guess I would have to disagree. “Seclusion” was probably my favourite before “Endoxa”, but my general impression of the “Accuphase” 12-Inch and the “Isokon” one was that they had a stripped down feel but lacked the polish needed. “Doxa” EP I think has that polish but in my opinion lacks the consistency of the earlier two.
The comparison to Villalobos hinged on the slightly discordant lay of the elements in”Episteme” especially. My meaning was that Emptyset should embrace the strictly stripped down atmosphere that he excels at creating without trying to draw n too much simultaneously. I meant this especially in genre terms, as the techy crispness of Endoxa really did it for me, where as the dubby sludginess on Episteme was a bit of a miscue imo.
Basically, I think that if he can combine the first two EPs’ better moments with the general tone of “Endoxa”, he’ll be getting into impressive territory indeed, but until then i think adjectives like “beautiful” are premature.