1700 Monkey Ninjas: Ahb Seshun

There is a lot to me said for the succinct track in electronic music. Way back when, I remember when Underworld started doing these magnum opus pieces (and there's a place for that), and ever since then, it has been very difficult to find tracks that are statements unto themselves that are under the five minute mark.

1700 Monkey Ninjas released their latest single, Ahb Seshun, which is exactly that the doctor ordered. Straight from the upcoming 1700 MN album, Know That Music Is My Life Blood, Ahb Seshun starts off as a fantastic piece of mathematic recursion, followed by a low and rumbling beat - building to a fevered and intricate composition and then, just before you think the fuse is going to go off and you're anticipating an explosion...there is nothing.

Fin.

Silence.

I can read too much into this, like how your synapses become very aware of what potential thought and energy really are, leaving you with no recourse but to transform that into the kinetic - but those words still fall short of  what I was experiencing each time I listened to the track. It's very difficult to sit and tease apart the layering of this composition, because by the time it reaches terminus, sitting still is the last thing I want to do. That is a very visceral thing that only a few artists are capable of doing to me.

1700 Monkey Ninjas is Ed Purchla, who thinks outside of the conventions and is willing to break anything we've become all too comfortable with over the years, while also distilling electronic music to its roots.

To get an idea of the concepts Ed Purchla has in his mind, one should study his art, and if you meditate on that for a good, long time, you may be able to extrapolate that to comprehend his music. I enjoy a good rubric, and the tracks present in Know That Music Is My Life Blood, and the earlier release, You Are The Storm, engage listeners and challenge them to actually think about the music and how they respond to it.

To find out more about 1700 Monkey Ninjas and Ed Purchla, you should check out this excellent interview from Weekend Notes.