Surprisingly the new CD by Thomas Jirku was released on a sidelabel of the electro-acoustic label ?Empreintes Digitales?. Jirku is known for his previous releases on labels such as Intr.Version (the label of Mitchell Akiyama) and Substractif (the alien8 sidelabel). Apparently Empreintes Digitales created the new label to release more ?poppy? music.
?Bleak 1999? contains a mixture of moody ambient drones and electronic beats that sometimes remind of the idm/glitch music of Akiyama or Noto and sometimes of old acid techno from Detroit. Minimal beats pound into the infinite while synthetic drones pass by. An occasional hint of a dubby bassline and a glitchy click here and there keeps your mind in this century instead of floating back to the early nineties.
It is a mix between nostalgic sounds that remind of the early techno of Underground Resistance and Polygon Window and the more modern sounds of Chain Reaction, Raster Noton and the like. This mix between styles is really appealing and ?bleak 1999? is a therefore a very nice album without edges.
