Berlin-based producer and artist Nicolas Bougaïeff presents his debut album The Upward Spiral. Ferocious industrial techno charges the album with a breakneck energy. But there’s much more going on than meets the ear at first listen. Bougaïeff developed the album from a bespoke compositional technique, a carefully considered studio experiment in how to twist a love of techno into innovative new forms. Across nine metallic misadventures, which Bougaïeff describes as “little open scores”, he explodes drum patterns and razor-sharp synths into a satisfyingly efficient blend. Complex rhythmic structures lurk beneath the “strawberry jam” of the surface aesthetic. This rhythmic illusion seeps into every crevice of a record that brings a piece of academia to the rave. The album is another testament to his decades-long love of club music, a love that has seen Bougaïeff challenge received wisdom, delivering genre-shattering Berghain sets that deftly mix Quebecois hip-hop with Tchaikovsky, techno and ambient.
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