Published by Alessandro Violante on November 6, 2016
One day, during the preparation of the soundtrack of Succubus, the movie directed by Cosmotropia De Xam, deus ex machina of Mater Suspiria Vision who we interviewed on our pages, the director listened to music made by Milan-based D4rk3r Side and decided to insert one of his songs into the film soundtrack, S.O.V, included in this release.
What’s more interesting, anyway, is that, after this project was born, in the Milan’s underground a new collective was founded, EK4T3, result of the meeting of an undefined number of artists with different backgrounds, each one giving his skills, not necessarily related to music creation, to the project. Something new in the Italian music panorama, for multiple reasons. The first one is that it’s the first Italian (but maybe worldwide) collective focused on the production of witch house music (but mixed with other influences). The second reason is that the artists involved dedicate themselves to each aspect of the collective, from music to handmade cover artworks (this first one is made by ARTMA), always staying loyal to the philosophy of this music style, very far from spotlights.
And, in fact, EK4T3 is a project still not so known by people into this kind of music, and the particularity of this project, more than music itself, fascinates who is writing about it. These five songs, constituting the first emanation of the project, which is waiting to release a compilation that is being made these days, are clearly influenced by witch house music and particularly by Phantasma Disques albums, although it shows a draft of a personal trademark, that will inevitably be more clear in its further releases.
A dreamlike melody opens the short intro, Chained, a sort of experiment with noise elements and a cinematographic and manipulated, slowed down, sample. The most interesting song is Glitter wound syndrome, always showing a more highlighted beat as well as electronica influences. All the songs of the EP seems to be part of a soundtrack for an unreleased movie, a sensation that can be felt in several witch house albums.
What said about the previous song could be said also for the next one, Kinda magical status, a mid tempo written for a sombre ritual, which presents synth lines typical of the genre. The same acid-lysergic component can be found in Remind me who u are, a mid tempo showing the result of the heavy manipulation of an instrumental harsh EBM song. The already mentioned S.O.V., the ending song of this release, was already inserted into the Succubus soundtrack. Here there’s a more esoteric mood and a slow tempo. The effect is obtained through sinister melodies and sounds, inspired by Italian horror.
The result is good and there are some good insights. Now the collective should go on releasing other material to improve its music and to transform these good ideas into something more, maybe also making some live performance. We’ll follow their steps.
Rating: 7, 5
Label: Self-released