Operator made his debut on the self-entitled Alba Absurdia Recordings compilation, which was reviewed here at Electronic Desert in 2002 and “OS1.1” is his first solo release on Benbecula. The beatless echoed out guitars in “Infirm” serves as intro to the “OS1.1” EP by Operator. “Closed Circle” contains a deep bassline, fused with calm beats alongside a beautiful melody and some very disturbing dissonant processed vocals. Apart from the vocals it is very reminiscent of the Detroit based label Minus-inc’s artist “Theorem” line of thought. “Tisch” got a solid programmed drum machine with a distinct 80’s feel to it that’s almost unavoidable with a synthesised hand-clap like that! The female vocal on top (which language is that?) concludes this little quirky but bass filled number. The Detroit trail started is maybe ended in “Das Boggon”. it features a variety of sonic elements one of them which sounds like a coo coo-clock is making up the main vocal (?) part of the song together with a barking dog and some vocoderised speech. You get beats and some intense keyboard playing at that. “For a Whale” is glitchy and features gentle string elements alongside some sort of vocal element or humming. It’s surprisingly acoustic and “ethnic” (forgive me for the choice of words, but I tried to find another, hard and long, but failed miserably) almost “world-music-like” what ever that means. The finishing “I Want to go to Host” starts off in a fairly experimental setting and the choice of instrumentation again is rather “*thnic” after the experimentation has finished a lonely guitar sticks till the end. The Operator EP is versatile, from the Detroit influenced opening tracks onto the finishing experimentations. If you like an interpretation of the Detroit way of doing things and don’t mind some experimentation, you should investigate.
electronic desert ≡ revisited + extended