Darkmatternebula / The Artificial Pine - Past / Future (1771)

Darkmatternebula and The Artificial Pine are both underground European artists who met one another on 4chan. Darkmatternebula, from Germany, develops omniscient and omniviolent industrial sludge, while The Artificial Pine mostly dabbles in ambience. Their split tape, Past / Future (1771), does an admirable job at blending the two artists’ styles together, without accentuating the strength of either artist.

The album is composed of two main tracks. Past 1.7, by darkmatternebula, introduces one to a dark, gritty industrial environment, before it slowly degrades into a fascinating, ominous soundscape. Sadly, the second half of the piece hardly adds any value to the first half, but it does flow into future 7.1 quite seamlessly. The second half of the album, led by The Artificial Pine, produces a varied and expressive beat scape, both speckled and vibrant. There is an overwhelming amount of great ideas within the second half of the album, though it lacks a coherent theme to tie them together. Many of the segments sound like abandoned ideas from various other tracks, though as a whole they work simply due to the strengths of their original arrangements.

Past / Future (1771)‘s greatest issue is it feels less like a collaborative effort, and more like a compilation by two different artists. While the two pieces seemingly go hand in hand with considerable flow, their vision seems separate from one another. Had the two artists seamlessly blended their ideas into a more varied and thought out track-listing, it could have worked quite well, as the artists both offer distinct and fascinating sounds. Sadly, the two artists are no longer on speaking terms, so it’s unlikely their project will ever be improved upon. Between the past and future remains only the remnant of what could have been.

Above Average

Listen to it here:

The link has been removed on request.

Darkmatternebula / The Artificial Pine - Past / Future (1771)