KHOMPA - Perceive Reality [CD]

Monotreme Records

£13.05

Format: CD
Catalogue No.: MONO188CD
Barcode: 5060464100543
Release Date: 06 May 2022
Genre: Experimental/Electronic

Limited 300 180g white vinyl LPs with printed inner Discobag and digital download. 500 CDs in gatefold digifile sleeve. Perceive Reality is the second album from KHOMPA, the electrifying solo project of Davide Compagnoni, featuring an adventurous mix of drumming, electronics and cutting edge drum triggering technology. KHOMPA’s previous album, the ground-breaking The Shape of Drums to Come (2016), which was featured on Ableton.com and Modern Drummer, introduced this unique audiovisual live project, whose main elements are: a drummer, a conventional drum kit, 3 cutting edge drum sensors, a laptop and a step sequencer. Each drum controls a virtual musical instrument (synthesizers, samplers, arpeggiators, etc.) within Ableton Live music software that, in combination with a custom step sequencer developed with MaxforLive app, allows Davide to perform real melodies/electronic orchestration without the use of any backing track. 100% live. In addition to that, he also uses a microphone set up in the middle of the drumkit to capture the dynamics of the acoustic drums and translate them through an 'envelope follower' into electronic parts in several ways. About ‘Perceive Reality’: Opener Belief bursts the record into life, as skittering arpeggios spin across a vast open plain of pad synths, before the ground splits beneath it with thrashing drums. On Conceived, Davide creates a simultaneously dark and euphoric wall of crystallised sound, a cacophony of pounding drum hits and icy electronic stabs, with an intensity that continues into Collide. With its shuddering, cut-out reverbed synth pads split in two by crashing cymbals and snares, the song spins itself into a transformative cycling trance, before slowly fading and washing away into silence, only to be broken by Conjectures’ sudden cymbal slams and transfixed toms that roll like thunder into a frenzy, before their final lightning strike. On Subjective, arpeggios twist around beating kick drums and toms, quickly scaling to a furious yet tightly wound sequence that envelops the listener, before Relief, where the album finally takes the shape of a huge wave of calm, glimmering hope and reflection. About the concept behind this latest album, Davide says, “Perceive Reality is a vivid exhortation to deepen the relationship with reality, avoiding simple and often illusory visions. In a historical context that fosters the proliferation of dual information and visions, individuals are increasingly exposed to the danger of perceiving less the complexity of events, thus losing the training to express complex and articulated opinions, the result of a reflection, whether individual or collective. Without having the presumption of resolving epochal issues, the project alerts to the fact that univocal answers do not exist and that only by developing a path of knowledge and giving ourselves the opportunity to examine things in depth, can we enter into the relationship with the existing.” Press highlights so far: Video premiere on Rumore.IT (Italy). Confirmed: Feature interview and video premiere on FACT Magazine factmag.com, Ableton, CLOT, Wire, Electronic Sounds, New Noise and more. Worldwide press and radio: Modern Matters.

Track listing: 1. Belief 2. Conceived 3. Objective 4. Collide 5. Concrete 6. Conjectures 7. Dianoia 8. Subjective 9. Relief