Transparent Aluminum - Six Experiments
by Tom Ojendyk
Portland’s Kelly Ockinga has been making experimental electronic music under this guise since 2008 and the latest release on Gift of Life Records is strongest collection yet. The music has elements of musique-concrète in that field recordings, synths, or live instrumentation have been run through various effects thus creating a montage of sounds with varying degrees of recognizability. ‘Bells’ is the most sinister or haunting track with its warped bell tones on top of a dark drone that gives it a 70’s slasher film soundtrack ambiance. Other tracks like ‘Random 1” and “Modulated Pattern” have a twisted and atmospheric dystopian sci-fi computer-uprising feel. Great job.