The man behind Hrvatski (Keith Fullerton Whitman) just came off of a very busy year, in which he released a handful of the years most beautifully languid ambient electronic records. So, is it any surprise that he begins 2005 with a monstrous, violent and utterly damaged electronic aggression record under his Hrvatski moniker? No, with Whitman, this makes perfect sense.

Recorded live at the RX Gallery on July 30, 2004, this album is an unforgiving sonic assault throughout. Over the course of the album's 91 tracks (the longest being 1:04), Keith seems to be ramming his fists deep into the circuitry of his laptop, hoping to tear a wet, beating heart from its warm motherboard. The album is a continuous piece, but the tracks are split up according to each new element or change Keith applies to the song. So, he'll add some bleeps, distortion, a beat or some clicks and let it go for 18 or so seconds. Then, he messes with it again, and so on for the rest of the album's 40:38.

Whatever the source material for these tracks, Keith treats them with mind numbing violence and massive force. He intersperses a few moments of melody and rhythm which serve to heighten the effect of the destruction (and vice versa).I can't imagine that watching this performance could have made any sense. A man sitting inert (or even if he was flailing around) just couldn't match up with this music. Something far more apocalyptic or threatening would have to serve as the visual for this. Even organically made rock and roll or metal doesn't normally feel this physical. 8/10 -- Dick Baldwin (25 May, 2005)