blld – Materia Prima – Squatter Madras

If you are a total music geek like me, you might find yourself pondering such counterproductive trivialities as, “What would King Crimson sound like if they did an album for Warp Records produced by Autechre?” Well, the prog duo of Markus Reuter and the mysterious 05Ric known as blld must have harbored the same musing. Only from the sound of their debut EP Materia Prima, they did something constructive with it as this incredibly brief yet thoroughly enjoyable set testifies. Building upon Crimson’s “double trio” concept from its 1995 album Thrak, songs like “Identify”, “Ohm”, and “Alter” are an astounding fusion of Frippertronics and IDM that really takes progressive rock to a whole new realm of creativity. It can only be hoped their next release is longer and even more innovative.