by Sean Bunny
As is a common practice in the electronic music genre, Null Device has followed up their 2007 CD, Excursions, with an offering of remixes, revisions, and unreleased demos they have aptly named Recursions.
What makes Recursions somewhat different from most post-CD remix platters is the variety of material that encompasses the past decade of the band’s history. In addition to rewirings of Excursions material by fellow electroheads Stripmall Architecture, Bloodwire, and Bogart Shwadchuck, there is a 2009 version of “Travelogue” from the 2004 CD, A Million Different Moments, and a new rendition of “Footfalls” from 2002’s Sublimation, both showcasing singer Eric Oehler’s continued exploration of bhangra and other musical influences from the other side of the globe. There is a live acoustic rendition of “The Hourglass” recorded at the Inferno circa 2006 that shows a less serious side to them, and a pair of unreleased demos have been tossed into the mix: the instrumental “Think It Over” (perhaps they deleted the lyrics for it after thinking it over?), and “The Choir”, which features former band member Dan Clark (presently in The Dark Clan and other various projects) rocking out on electric guitar. “The Ubiquitous Mr. Lovegrove”, a Dead Can Dance cover and staple of Null Device’s live sets, is presented here in studio form and one might have trouble differentiating it from the original.
Never known to be technophobes (the band first had a website way back in 1994), Recursions is not yet available in CD format and for the moment can only be obtained digitally from bandcamp.com, a website that allows musicians to be flexible with how they dole out and price their material. In the case of Recursions, one has the option to download the songs in several different formats and even choose how many clams to throw at the band; you can donate anywhere from zero dollars and zero cents to your entire paycheck, depending on how much you value what you hear. They are also one of many bands who have beaten iTunes LP to the punch; the download comes with a PDF file that contains all the artwork and liner notes that their website promises will eventually be available in soon-to-be-obsolete physical CD format.