Swiss innovative drummer Julian Sartorius treats his drums as resonant bodies, free to flow and form rhythm and harmony in spacetime. He already took this ambitious sonic conception to great lengths. Already on his debut album «Beat Diary» (Everest, 2012) he offered a 12xLP box set comprising 365 beats recorded daily over the course of a year. Since then he insisted on trekking the path not traveled to arrive at rhythmic life forms through found objects and prepared instruments. He presented on his most recent solo album «Locked Grooves» (-ous, 2021)  112 beats cut as endless loops on vinyl spanning 56 dense 1.8-second compositions per side.

The solo album «Mux» is in a way a culmination of all his efforts thus far to mimic a synthesizer and drum machine. Sartorius experimented and developed precise and multi-layered rhythmical patterns that are keen excursions into the hidden tones of found objects and prepared instruments, bridging the gap between organic timbres and the vocabulary of electronic music. The electronic sounds on this album are only constructed organically via hand movements but often sound like tangible, acoustic sounds of untimely percussion traditions.

The 12 concise pieces suggest imaginative ritualist pieces that flirt with Balinese gamelan tradition, West African percussive schools and African and Brazilian talking drums traditions. Sometimes, these pieces even pay homage to synth-pop songs of the eighties, sound like friendly psychedelic messages from Gong’s pot-head pixies or challenge your most advanced dance moves. Sartorius performs these brilliant percussive textures with great focus on detail, a nuanced sense of drama and mystery and a reserved sense of humor.

EyalHareuveni 

Julian Sartorius (elec, dr)