Experimental industrial synth project Altra has dropped their first video from “VISEX”, the first release by Charlottesville-based duo. Altra blends the sounds of lab equipment, modular synths, and industrial atmospheres to create a pulsing, throbbing miasma of sound.
Altra’s Alex Christie (Leon Bison) and Travis Thatcher (Voice of Saturn) are electronic artists, instrument designers, and composers who are fascinated by an interconnected electronic performance. There is no instrument that they cannot feedback and no signal that they do not reroute. Altra creates chaotic networks of electronic devices that they guide through uncharted territories, discovering semi-organic, semi-synthetic soundworlds along the way.
Watch the video for “a)to(c_5}s” below:
On what inspires them to make music through as they put it, “exploring multidimensional feedback paths between performers, equipment and people”, Altra explain:
“Altra takes inspiration from beat-based electronic genres like IDM and techno, and also from music like free jazz and improvised noise but filtered with a DIY post-punk attitude.
VISEX is experimental in the sense that we never knew exactly what was going to come out of any given performance or practice session.
The tracks on this record emerged from the interconnectivity of our hybrid system-instrument and our own improvisational practices. The record is documentation of sound and interaction.”
Pre-order Altra’s VISEX through DKA Records here
Travis Thatcher’s site with the synths and pedals he builds for his projects:
http://www.travisthatcher.com
