Conceptual – Ossigeno ½ [Semantica Records]

Spanish avant-garde music cannot be understood without Semantica Records. There is no other platform with such an important and determining history for the visualisation of a complex scene, such as that of experimental sound in a broad sense, although always shared with avant-garde techno, which has gained weight in this country thanks in large part to the work carried out over the last 17 years by Enrique Mena (Svreca). From his label he has signed great artists such as Oscar Mulero, Silent Servant, Boris Divider, Inigo Kennedy, Xhin, Developer, Stanislav Tolkachev or Surgeon among others, however, in his extensive catalogue we can find a great diversity of authors who deserve the same respect as any of these great producers and who must be taken into account.

Conceptual is the latest producer to join the Semantica catalogue, having previously worked for other Spanish techno empires such as Warm Up Recordings and Pole Recordings, both labels created and managed by Oscar Mulero. We are not at all surprised that a label like Semantica would release Conceptual’s new album, as his style, sound quality and creative versatility are extraordinary.

Ossigeno ½ is an album that releases the first part in May and the second part in September. This first volume contains six tracks in which he mixes different concepts. Senza Di Te opens the album by revalidating the introductory meaning of the intro with a long chord that changes its harmony progressively and loses intensity and prominence because of the different elements that appear, from powerful bass frequencies to countless strident motifs. The second cut, A Weird Dream a Day, already places you in an obsessive plane in which it shows the true personality of the release based on energetic and solid techno, in this case with an arpeggio reinforcing the rhythmic structure. Enlightened Ferocity is a worthy title for a track in which the depth of its rhythm is fed by constant lysergic bursts created to subdue the most receptive minds.

The Purgatory of Ordinary Mortals, Ossigeno ½’s fourth cut, takes on an obsessive, uncompromising and implacable character, in which with forcefulness and with an unchanging rhythmic structure, it exposes without contemplation a single path to follow. With The High Priestess, Conceptual moves the rhythmic weight out of the percussive environment, this time depending on acid lines with which he manages to pierce any self-respecting limbic system with impulses. Pour la Vie closes this first episode with a syncopated transition and synthetic melodies that radiate and fill Ossigeno’s warlike landscape with luminosity.

Release date: May 5th, 2023.