Roel Funcken

Roel Funcken is a visionary; his head is set in the clouds, yet his sound is honed in darkness. His latest Eat Concrete release, the Dreampty EP (pressed in a run of only 200 white ten-inches), showcases Funcken's jittery, offbeat rhythms, which vaguely sway to implied pulses, dilapidated beats with laser beam percussion and guttural sub-bass. The compositions lurch forward like a wounded rat on the verge of sheer panic or dystopic machinery about to mutiny. This is the music of nightmares, not in a cheesy, Elvira, "spoooooooky" way, but more in the torture porn, alien invasion, Jacob's Ladder-style. It speaks to something primal and psychological, an uneasiness not much heard this side of Raoul Sinier's instrumental work. Granted, "Zinc Blession" has a glint of euphoria, but it's couched in a sharp rhythm that renders its new age sounds disorienting. Rather than bombarding the listener with tacky references, Dreampty negotiates the continually shortening attention spans of the modern consumer audience via the audacity of its construction, triggering a fight-or-flight response deep in the chest. The dream seems real.