LIZIUZ | GESCHICHTEN DES LEBENS | 2XCD

liziuz is a new name emerging from the contemporary berlin electronic underground. unlike many of his contemporaries, liziuz has isolated himself in solitude, meticulously crafting long-form landscapes that are simultaneously both industrial and psychedelic.   after a series of committed live performances in germany, liziuz is set to deliver his stunning album debut for hospital productions for the public. ‘geschichten des lebens’ is presented on two discs with two interpretations of the same epic track, one in ambient form and one in techno form--an album that requires patience with deep rewards. what begins as a cacophonous acoustic assemblage of crash cymbals and gongs is effortlessly mutated into a swirling electronic sequence. rattling between the clatter of metal-on-metal, voices echo from the underpasses below where passengers wait for the next train as traffic crawls past them above. acoustic instruments are cut into shards, like a mix between bernard herrmann's opening credits from taxi driver stung with a sci-fi theremin that could have been an outtake from conrad schnitzler’s archaic ‘silvester anfang’, used on the infamous intro for mayhem’s deathcrush; slowed down, reduced, and gestural with soil tossed on the top of the coffin. constantly dividing memoirs contradict each others tales only to reunite, stitched together in a loose and alien way that seeps into your body like snow in summer. Analog drones, weightless pads, field recordings, horns, prepared piano, electro-acoustic textures, and unidentifiable concrete rubble glides inside and outside of one another seamlessly. what gave you a feeling of deja vu a moment ago is cast away for a sound you cannot recognize, from a place you have never been. In liziuz’s compositions, the listener will drift away in the current of a guitar whirlpool, only to be snapped back into another hemisphere to some organ swells gliding between long lace curtains flowing in a temple at dusk. voices could call you from the peak of a rugged shale cliff or whisper to you inside the bedroom of your childhood. While the second disc, ‘techno,’ is a different mix with tight and snapping kicks, it is notable how different it feels from its predecessor, morphing into rolling techno from which the ambience came. despite liziuz operating far outside functional techno, the sense of mixing, storytelling and momentum has been equally informed by spending hours inside the halls of berlin’s clubs as much as from hiking through the forests of germany. echoes of detroit, bristol, and early '90s west germany are in here...buts it's all done in a skeletal, angular, ghostly, elemental way that lives up to the double album presentation. ‘geschichten des lebens’ translates to ‘the story of life,’ but a more accurate translation would be the story of many lives, lived all at once or one recurring after the next, and whether reincarnation or quantum physics, you can be sure it remains psychedelic. deluxe 2xcd digipak.  edition of 500.