Roborg: Fsociety

ROBORG is apparently from the Czech Republic, is possibly Russian, is probably human and he makes synthwave that is almost violently dark. That’s not to say it’s rough, or loud, or thrashing: each of these tracks is a small opus that are themselves chapters in a larger opus, and each EP in turn seems to build upon a unique sound that has been playing through several similar releases throughout 2016. Dystopian? Yes, but not without an overarching grandeur and magnificence that would make any electronic composer proud.

Like a bad acid hangover, “Count Zero” churns and lays you out to dry, dead to the world save for the recurring prismatics and vague sense of something always just out of sight, out of earshot and around the bend. The grandeur is on the verge of turning into the cliche epic before it abruptly ends and and some scarcely audible voice begins imploring you to answer “Are You Real?” Unnerving as fuck. The mood slowly evolves into something more and more sinister up until the appropriately titled “Evilborn” – a hell cannon of emotion that represents some kind of ferocious climax to the EP. “rm ./yrself” (“remove yourself” in UNIX) closes out with a completely sublime, gentle and only slightly claustrophobic afterglow. This guy or guys or girls or whoever they are have one of the best things going right now.

 

Originally published first in 5 Magazine Issue 139, featuring Jerome Baker, Hanna Hais, David Mancuso, Surface and Karen Copeland & more. Become a member of 5 Magazine for First & Full Access to Real House Music.