PREQUEL TAPES “Ruin” (Mannequin Records)

“RUIN” on Mannequin Records is the new album by Prequel Tapes a.k.a. Marco Freivogel – a producer, DJ and live performer who’s been making electronic music since he was a teenager. What began with an accident and the rediscovery of some lost DAT tapes, has become the driving force for all his creative expression in the last years. Prequel Tapes previous albums ‘Inner Systems’ and ‘Everything is Quite Now’ received widespread critical praise for their originality, depth and composition. He has released two tape projects ‘The Pandora Star Sessions’ and ‘Dinge’ – a collaboration with the artists Mare Nero. Prequel Tapes live performances range from solo all hardware jams to a large-scale collaboration with butoh dancer Valentin Tzin and motion artist Ksenia Mozhayskaya aka nomoreless. His DJing is anything but straight techno with his recorded sets, podcasts and radio appearances chosen for mixes of the month by the likes of pitchfork, RA and dasfilter.

To many people the concept of Ruin is fearful, depressing, dark – conjuring notions of decay, fallen morality, or tragedy. But to others, the idea of Ruin is of hope for what may come after – opportunities to rebuild, rethink and challenge. Ruin may be the only chance to stop the passive march towards the destruction of the feral human spirit, the failure of our imagination to the homogenising power of capital. Both the music and the artwork reflect the artists long-held view that art should challenge, jarr and provoke. Rejecting a world where the uncomfortable is covered with plastic veneer and platitudes as a vital artistic expression. Offering the balance of what’s dark and disturbing to appreciate beauty and the light.

Using a highly personalised setup of hardware collected over many years, Prequel Tapes wanders through concrete mazes and dark forests with infinite curiosity. In these cold empty spaces, Ruin oscillates freely between sunshine and shadows, where grit and gravel pay homage to the industrial anti-melodies of the 80s, appearing as earworms after the rain. The sonic DNA of teenage dreams are central to the aesthetic aspirations of Ruin, as are the sparse minimalist frameworks of composers like Arvo Pärt.

Drawing upon the stains of his musical history, Prequel Tapes merges each drop into an honest, singular sound, honing in on decades of love for abstract electronics with a profound emotional sensitivity. References may reveal themselves on close listen, but never command space, serving instead as subtle threads woven carefully into a tapestry of synthesis; aware of its past but firmly grounded in the present.

A special edition vinyl will be available through the Mannequin bandcamp, with photographs by Frankie Casillo whose work is also used for the cover art.

artist: Prequel Tapes
title: Ruin
label: Mannequin Records
date: 3rd July 2020
format: vinyl | digital

Tracklist
A1. Small Mercies
A2. Antagonist
A3. Ruin
A4. Intrinsic
A5. Scythe
B1. Night Rain B2. Crush Me
B3. Twisted
B4. Hot Cell
B5. The Mirror