REVIEWS

Loop

New York-based multi-instrumentalist and analog electronic music composer IIITAIII has been active since the early 2000s on the Big Apple experimental and hard core scene with his noise / metal band EMOK.

Our protagonist plays the analog modular synthesizer and is also on vocals on this experimental pop debut album, where the melody and rhythmic beats are a widely accomplished combination. This music has a mix between the synth pop of the 80s with the most current proposals of labels such as Stroboscopic Artefacts and Spazio disponibile with techno and electro styles.

One of the highlights is "Humanoid" - which opens this album - and which has a promotional video (in black and white) that was filmed and directed by Jugoe (Jude Goergen) between April and June in full pandemic in New York, where it shows a cold and desolate city, next to emplomatic places. IIITAIII's powerful bass-drum and mellow, distant voice evoke Gary Numan. "When It Rains" is another magnificent melodic journey and "Zeros and Twos" that gives the title to this album opens with epic synthesizer notes whose analogical character give it a warm and illuminating character.

Guillermo Escudero

August 2020

IGLOO MAGAZINE

IIITAIII returns with Zeros and Twos for Sheffield-based TruthTable and further explores analogue adventures in sound—this time infusing additional vocals rounding off almost all of the tracks.

The New York-based multi-instrumentalist pairs abstract industrial layers with minimized pop infusions, scattered beats, bass, analog rhythms and mechanical shards broken up by melodic bubbles. Actual sounds and voices come to life on Zeros and Twos where fans of  Tobias Lilja, Super_Collider and Clark may find common ground. Raw electronic pulses and a “journey from human to machine” rips tempered vocals, fractured glitch and modular crevasses. Each piece Zeros and Twos traverses parallel foundations, however, there are moments of calm where the artist flexes his synths with nostalgic bleeps and blips sending the listener through uncharted terrain.

As the album advances, IIITAIII’s ability to explore the hidden nooks and crannies of his sonic machinery is accentuated by unique song structures, left of center industrial textures and blissfully broken synthesizer realms—take the title track, “Mindstare,” “Imagine Nation,” and “Humanoid” as prime examples. While these ears are more attuned to the oscillating instrumental beauties like “Analog Twin,” “Voltage Vultures” and the explosive modular workout of the closing track “Android Parade,” Zeros and Twos is a balanced vocal cacophony of scattered cables transferring auditory bits and bytes that are utterly engaging.

AFRICAN PAPER

Der New Yorker Multiinstrumentalist IIITAIII bringt Ende des Monats ein neues Album heraus, das primär auf modularen Synthies und Stimme basiert. “Zeros and Twos” befasst sich in zwölf Tracks mit Aspekten des Transhumanismus, wobei der Fokus primär auf den Übergangsphasen, der prozesshaften Transformation zwischen organischen, humanen und maschinellen Existenzformen sowie dem Potenzial, das schon immer im menschlichen Organismus liegt, gerichtet ist. “Zeros and Twos” erscheint digital bei Truthtable.

REVIEWS

Merchants of air

Gary Numan meets Author & Punisher, that was my first thought when I listened to the six tracks on this abstract electronic techno album. Well, techno might not be the correct term. I think I prefer the phrase "harsh synth pop" for most of these tunes, including 'The Greatest' the impending 'Asleep'. Don't expect repetitive beats and lame vocals but instead prepare for mechanic soulsearching and a massively futuristic sound. My personal favorite here is the friendly 'Adream', a neat downtempo tune. But, as usual, I recommend checking out the entire EP. This is an interesting approach to modern day electronic music.

Indie Pulse Music

The sound fills the room with thick frequencies, that are as organic as they are mechanical, while IIITAIII's vocals eventually find their way into the mix as if to find a human voice within the machine. IIITAIII is a multi-instrumentalist and analogue electronic-music composer. Piecing together fragments of moments that otherwise would be forever lost, he uses an analogue modular synthesiser which he has spent countless hours assembling. The result is a musical portal into worlds that disappear as quickly as they form. In an age where technology has made music into a commodity, IIITAIII tries to capture the ephemeral nature of analogue electronic music by suspending moments that will never form again.

Awake / Asleep is both strikingly energetic and subtitle in its value, performing an audio driven transcendental state, taking you to a inner level of consciousness. The voice of the machine speaks, clearly and direct, you become immersed in a sound pattern world, a new denizen, a living part of the technical subconscious. Obviously, influenced by the masters of the genre, like Kitaro, Tomita and others like them, IIITAIII lends an originality and an essence that makes this work stand out from its predecessors. Unlike some of this artists compatriots, IIITAIII interjects the harmonious Synth with lyrics, verse and chorus that do not distract from the Symphonic, but adds a new dimension, creating a 4D soundscape.

Awake / Asleep is the next step in understanding the future of music influenced by the Ghost In The Machine, an Ai that is learning to speak in our tongue. Awake / Asleep attempts to find that elusive place between wakefulness and sleep. As the first song fades into a crescendo, the sound seems to fill the room with thick frequencies, that are as organic as they are mechanical, while IIITAIII's vocals eventually find their way into the mix as if to find a human voice within the machine.

Igloo Magazine

Modular blips and bleeps surrounded by raw industrial flashes fully inhabit this exciting EP from IIITAIII on the newly created TruthTable imprint (a sub-label of Audiobulb). The title track does just what you’d expect—with just over two and a half minutes, broken analog clangs flicker just above a heartbeat bass line. “Adream” floats by with an instrumental downtempo groove—guitars and scorched lyrics as its central vehicle. “Asleep” follows a similar path with further whispered vocals leading the way like Android Lust did back in the day. A highlight occurs in the crackling dark echoes of “The Greatest”—its synth-line and chorus is a contagious cacophony of beautiful noise that merits repeated listening. From the experimental electronic pop and swirling notes of “Lovesick Bombs,” to the muddy drums, rhythmic beauty, and acoustic guitar of “Gimme Candy,” this is a jam-packed extended player that only teases the listener with the artists’ knack of rugged analog electronics. As IIITAIII “attempts to find that elusive place between wakefulness and sleep,” rest-assured that the cover artwork is perhaps the most spot-on depiction of this EP with its knobs and cables connected to a beating heart with a circuit-board built right in.

Beach Sloth

IIITAIII taps into an electro punk flavour with the powerful “Awake/Asleep”. Highly reminiscent of Crystal Castles’ early works, the songs burst with such energy. Vocals have a commanding presence to them punctuating the already harsh compositions with a hard-nosed realism. Done with the utmost of care the riffs prove to be quite infectious. Beyond their electro-punk spirit, they incorporate pieces of pop, industrial, and noise into the mix ensuring that the many ornate patterns merge and break apart with such fervour. Fire and passion fuel the entirety of the collection for these songs are meant to be played loud, very loud.

The minimalism of “Awake” opts for uneasy bass lines that build. Slow yet steady usage of distortion allows the track to unfurl in ever-increasingly chaotic ways. Layer upon layer of sound intersects in fantastically gorgeous ways with “The Greatest” as a lumbering tempo further adds to the disorienting experience. Everything about it simply stuns from the broken-down melody to the warped vocals. Highly catchy is the stately presence of “Lovesick Bombs”. Further tension reigns supreme over the wild “Asleep”. Toning things down a bit “Adream” allows for a bit of space to enter into the mix, as it takes a softer stance. By far the highlight comes with the colossal finale, the fantastic closer of “Gimme Candy” where IIITAIII allows a bit of evil playfulness into the fray.