a4103646435_10

Expedition III‘ offers two new glacial movements from SPT, techno mainstay of the End Result Productions IOEPR subsidiary. In similar fashion to previous expeditions, the tape explores one area of the Antarctic on the A-side and another on the B-side. A southeast advancement of 175 km (ca. 110 mi) is made from Expedition II’s end at the Riiser-Larsen Peninsula, in order to begin the A-side of Expedition III along the edges of the Prince Harald Coast. The B-side then embarks from the shores of the Prince Harald Coast onto the Lützow-Holm Bay.

The slow-moving modulation of a tape-sourced Antarctic field recording sets the preliminary tone of the release on ‘Prince Harald Coast’, quickly followed by an elegant bassline from the Make Noise DPO. Kick drum is worked into the mix until the introduction of the lead line from the Roland System-1, after which point the track’s duration is composed by the continual addition and subtraction of rhythmic elements within long delay lines and deep reverberant spaces.

‘Lützow-Holm Bay’ sees the DPO employed for heavy ambient drone at the track’s beginning, with overlays of percussive elements from the Mutable Instruments Clouds and noise elements from a different tape of Antarctic field recording. Thunderous pitch-shifting sweeps are introduced to accompany the rhythm of the Clouds, until drum elements and eventually the lead lines of the Roland System-1 are worked in. The timbral qualities of the DPO are revealed as the duration of its envelope is decreased, ultimately letting it find its place as the bassline just as in ‘Prince Harald Coast’. Thereafter, the track’s remainder is composed of additions and subtractions similar to those of ‘Prince Harald Coast’, but amounting to its closure from much starker progressions in the basslines and lead lines.

In production style, ‘Expedition III‘ returns to the cleanliness of direct recording, rather than the captures of live performances to cassette tape which were used for ‘Expedition II‘. Still, the tracks were produced entirely live with no overdubs, in rehearsal for live performances at rizumu events in Philadelphia.

Mastering was carried out on hardware equipment with tape by Alex Garcia-Rivera of Mystic Valley Studio, giving Expedition III the most balanced and professional sonic quality out of all the expeditions completed thus far.