SYNTHETIK 1

'Seeselberg' sound like they've just opened their Christmas presents, plugged them in and started pressing buttons, pulling knobs and recording, before realising that they have to read the instructions first. Being entirely electronic, 'Synthetik 1' is an unholy mess, lacking structure and coherence, and is damaged goods for this reason.

It's full of new fangled technology and effects that had just been unleashed for the first time, with the musicians appearing to be dumbfounded and confused as to what it all means. Almost as though they'd tried deciphering hieroglyphics upon seeing them for the first time.

This is a peculiar album for 1973, that didn't have a cats chance in hell of breaking into the top 100 anywhere on earth. There are, however, a few similar sounding artists such as Pierre Henry, Bernard Parmegiani and Conrad Schnitzler who also plunged headfirst into the deep end of early electronica. Sadly for 'Seeselberg' the previous artists do it better with more professionalism and gravitas.

It's all completely tuneless of course, with a copious amount of bleeps, bloops and splodges of early electronics, which visually would look like the remains of custard pies thrown at a wall.

None of it makes any sense and I guess there never was any. It's a wordless sound collage without message, meaning or frilly edges. In fact some of it is downright ugly, sounding uncannily like extreme Japanese noise masters 'Merzbow'. 'Kondensmusik' with its sped up VCS3 throb displays remarkable similarities to Aphex Twin's beat driven tunes of the mid-nineties. That's not to say that it's a success; it's not, in fact it's downright irritating. Seeselberg find a beat and frequency then repeat from start to finish without much variation.

'Synthetik 1' is not a particularly enjoyable listen and so much has come to pass since its inception in 1973 that it now sounds like a relic, an antique lost in time that is no longer relevant or necessary. A prototype experiment using a technology that would take a few more years to master in more capable hands.