Fatih Yapar is a visual artist and graphic designer who also releases electronic music under the moniker Acid Work. Based out of Istanbul and active since 2009, this week Yapar returned with an excellent EP collection called Data Distortion, out now on the Turkish label Transferans Records. Comprised of 5 tracks whose titles point to “data” in its’ various states and forms, the new EP features graphically bold artwork from Yapar, and was mastered by ?zcan Ertek.
Employing a minimalist style, Acid Work’s glitch oriented compositions always seem to leave plenty of sonic room for his various musical figures to breathe. Lending the work an open-air feel, even a busier track like the EP’s initial cut “Data Reduction,” presents sound features like ticking percussion, blasts of bass, and airy pads, as discreet audio events ripe for apprehending almost on their own. As a technique, it encourages deeper engagement, with this use of negative space drawing attention to the very act of listening itself.
And this deeper listening pays off in spades! While experimental electronic forms like glitch might not be known for their sensuality, Yapar’s attention to sonic detail opens up auditory worlds teeming with timbre and texture. These are sounds that can be felt as much as they are heard. If glitch is often a genre associated with harsh and alien sounds, as well as a disorienting compositional approach, on Data Distortion Acid Work renders it in such a way that these unusual soundscapes become invitations to explore strange, and at times daunting worlds, in human ways–thru the ears!
