Vitamin Manifest - 300°E, Zhuhai

 

Released: August 10

With their first release in ostensibly several years, Warsaw-based experimental duo Vitamin Manifest returns with something of a love letter to numbers stations - those strange relics of the Cold War that appeared and disappeared without explanation or continued their nonsensical broadcasts up to the current day. Despite being only two tracks and about 15 minutes in total, the atmosphere maintained throughout is rather intense. Much of this intensity seems to come from the bass frequencies, which are either from an unidentified synth or the use of heavy feedback. They come in extremely heavy and only let up in short bursts of silence, creating this heavy wall that doesn’t quite override everything else in the mix but certainly suppresses it. Aside from the clever sampling, it stands out as one of the defining features of the album.

The sampling on the album largely comes from where you would expect; shortwave radio transmissions. Endlessly repeating phrases and sequences of numbers capture the essence of these often creepy transmissions, especially considering the low fidelity and quality of the recordings as they are broadcast on a medium that prioritizes distance over accurate sound reproduction. The further treatment of these samples leaves the sound further degraded and dismantled, which only adds to the mysterious and nefarious atmosphere. The album in all isn’t anything too deep, but is fantastically executed and the tone of the record perfectly encapsulates a phenomenon that has intrigued, fascinated, and confused many people over the last half century, myself included.