Roma Zuckerman - The Phenomenon of Provincial Mentality (2024)

The don of Siberian techno Roma Zuckerman made his debut double LP ‘Phenomenon of Provincial Mentality’ on Gost Zvuk with a much-anticipated showcase of his remarkably diverse language of sound, from quickfire DJ tools to off-kilter extrapolations with a full stylistic diversity in between.

Working through the archive, the label assembled a collection of hypnotic loops in the vein of early Robert Hood and click-and-cut experiments that recall the punk attitude of Berlin's Elektro Music Department, all the while with nods towards European minimal. The album opens with two subdued, speak-and-spell processed vocal jams before 'Text Regulator' brings things into overdrive with furious drum programming and wide-eyed glitch FX. Over to Side B things take a turn into something more melodic and relaxing, an almost BBC radiophonic workshop zone with synthetic underwater sounds bringing to mind Amadeo Tomassi's library soundtracks of the late 70s. Think of early sonic portrayals of deep space exploration or the ocean's vastness mixed with repetitive 909 stabs.

‘I Play Everyday’ strikes as one of the album's highlights, a prime example of Zuckerman’s fascination with creating loop-based grooves to get lost in. There’s a hint of Richard H. Kirk’s 90s IDM classic ‘Freezone’ in the timbre of the opening moments, but where Kirk goes into sample-heavy cross-cultural futurism, ‘I Play Everyday’ seems acutely concerned with subtle reductions. ‘Extra Work’ harnesses a kind of pounding warehouse gabber energy with what sounds like a collage of shortwave radio voices, whereas album closer ‘Companeros’ brings in snippets of traditional Spanish-style acoustic guitar, albeit layered in a concrete manner with bursts of electrical distortion. It makes for one of the LP’s most surprising moments, but all round ‘Phenomenon of Provincial Mentality’ shows an artist working with a vast variety of styles. A truly great body of work to kick off the year.