Rhombus/Orlock - Rhombus/Orlock

Band: Rhombus/Orlock
Album: Rhombus/Orlock
Release Date: April 28, 2014
Label: Self-Released
Country of Origin: Taiwan 


When I opened the message Rhombus/Orlock submitted, the only thing included in the body of the email was a link to their Bancamp page below this text: "We're a raw, minimalistic electronic/ambient band from Taiwan and we play our music strictly using analogue equipment. You should review this for us please. Thnx." In combination with the sure-to-offend cover of the album and the horrific, yet somehow tranquilizing music, this is probably the most bizarre/intriguing/confusing/off-putting first entry into the history of music-reviewing blogs...well, ever. The whole fucking thing, beginning with seeing an email lacking anything in the subject line from a band called Rhombus/Orlock in my inbox made me feel like I'd spent the day in a windowless room that had been freshly coated with lead-based paint. They're certainly minimalists in every aspect of the project, up to, but not excluding, their interactions with other humans on the internet (though they could very well be robots or aliens or some shit, like some sort of cybernetic extraterrestrial race whose diet consists solely of drugs).
The first song, titled "total war sequence 1" (the band spells the song with lower case letters, fucko, that's not a typo) is a nose dive into into a hefty rail of their "raw, minimalistic electronic/ambient" style which gives the listener a shape of things to come concerning the overall sound. You can tell that this was uploaded to digital format from a tape because of the quiet crackles and that indescribable vibe you can only get from a cassette. It's also safe to assume they did this all live because you can hear them scuffling around their samplers, synthesizers, drum machines and drug ingesting devices (I swear I heard a few hearty, swift sniffs and the sound of somebody ripping a bong, but that's neither here nor there). If you think I'm being paranoid in my suspicion that both Rhombus and Orlock were under the influence of psychotropics while recording their eponymous debut, give the album a listen and I'm confident you wouldn't try to dispute my allegation: logically, one could only conclude that they were high out of their minds (also safe to assume that they have been for the better part of their lives). Not that it matters, I don't condemn them for it, everyone is high when they make music.
The songs are oft- most times repetitive, most oft times based around a simple musical theme. Much of the album is sample-laden ambiance laced with swirling synths and borderline-obnoxious noise, but there's an enjoyable dynamic going on. The band sometimes ventures into 90's trance territory with apparent industrial influences (see: "orlock 5" and "enter the rhombus") and even trip-hop ("An overwhelming need to obey"). There are songs that seep into the next, altered with new variances in drum patterns, synth leads that reappear later in the album: a fucked up consistency with fucked up conceptualization.  
This is definitely fucking weird, and may be difficult to listen to in its entirety (or at all for some of you) but it's got charm and originality. You might as well try it for the experience, plus they're giving you the album for free via their Bandcamp website. And I wouldn't hesitate to give their next album a listen if they ever make one.—Nuko Kapao

Get their shit here:
rhombusorlock.bandcamp.com