Gerard Herman - Die Paste, Die Wrong (2017)

Deeply contemplative, heavy-lidded and weird music sounding somewhere between the out-of-time Hypnagogia of James Ferraro and the quieter end of Ghédalia Tazartès' instrumental pieces. Entr’acte have a habit of pulling this inspirational shit out of the bag, and this one really is a total revalation...

Cryptically poetic lower case electronics from Belgian musician and visual artist Gerard Herman, making his first mark on Entr’acte with Die paste, die wrong in the wake of self-released titles on his Opgewarmde Groenten label and for the like-minded Belgians at (K-RAA-K)³, plus numerous multidisciplinary collaborations with Dennis Tyfus, among others.

A record of heavy-lidded mind states as much as a musical document, Die paste, die wrong mirrors the surreality of Herman’s visual artwork - ranging, as far as we can see, from minimalist images of piss stained corners to playful mutant figures - in its slight, single-line make-up and the way it evokes those sensations lesser felt in other, more conventional electronic recordings.

It feels to us like the sound of mooching narrow medieval port city streets after midnight with a belly and headful of delirium tremens, detached and floating to the sound of distant, clanking buoys, melodically dripping gutters and muffled rituals executed behind heavy wooden doors.

Whatever the Belgian word for eldritch is, that’s the vibe.