David Wallraf - The People in the World Blow Up the World

 

Released: December 13

Never having been one to shy away from the gritty and menacing, German sound experimenter David Wallraf brings us a new album that has all of the intensity of a long swirling scream with the underlying complexity of a chaotic conspiracy board. The opening track alone, “One and One” opens up this theme with what sounds like actual screaming - a high-pitched and anxiety-inducing wail that does not relent, even as the other elements of the track revolve around it. The sounds of mechanical oscillations roll around as the errant caw of a single crow interrupts with its ominous presence. This quickly moves into the next track “On and On,” which amps up the noise level with a persistent bass slam that drives the track into a territory of slight insanity. 

The album has its moments where it seems to calm down, particularly at the very end with the soft synth tinged elegy “Can Murder Mention One.” Its gentle persistent pinging melds with light but full-bodied pads that provide an aura of finality and resignation, as if it is the end of a dark story. While I am not familiar with the source material that inspired this album, I can personally say that this feels much like a true crime dramatic documentary taken to its logical extreme. Allusions to murder mix with dark soundscapes that are tinged with an industrial undertone provided by the icy clanks of metal on metal inside of cacophonous environments. Wallraf has had a penchant for these types of sounds for quite some time, but the context here is unnerving and puts a rather unflattering mirror up to the subject matter, taking it from soft podcast worthy entertainment to an actually terrifying ride.