Most producers learn on the job. Theo Komp did both; he started making music in 2006 and enrolled at Berklee College of Music the same year, and the range that came out the other side covers songwriting, production, recording, sound design, mixing, and mastering.
A move to London in 2010 put him in front of crowds at Egg, Ministry of Sound, Pacha, 333, and Rhythm Factory, with releases landing on Keep Out Recordings, Mind Ability, Deep Records, and Solid Tracks Records along the way.
He now runs Minimal Force Records, a London imprint dedicated to minimal tech and experimental material, alongside his membership of the Codekontrol family. Se Ta Mas? arrives on Elektrotribe, where he already has form; Bullying, the Moog Conspiracy collaboration Keria, and a spot on the label's Tribes 2 compilation all sit in his back catalogue there.
Anyone expecting a soothing segue into proceedings should forget that stupid idea immediately, as Komp opens with the pulverising techno brawl that is Erica Bulgarica. The track delivers tribal drumming and vocals, complete with an utterly disgusting acid line sitting at the bottom end.
Sling takes hold next, with a dense atmosphere that builds on relentlessly pounding kicks. The track is… how would one best describe this… maximized minimalism. That is to say it’s components are few, yet they are delivered with a ferocity that doesn’t normally lend itself to something as skeletal.
Now you’ve shut up and are listening to what our man Theo has to say, things really start to get exciting. Str18 follows with quick switch up in energy, thanks to the insistent kick drums that motor the production along at pace.
Paidia Sikothite comes slamming into the soundstage next and we really do stand up. Hyperactive top end percussion skitters around on the surface of the production, before a thunderous kick drum send the track into overdrive.
The machines are powering up now as Ignition adopts a lurching cadence that heralds some sort of marching sentient mass. Their hulking forms forge forward to the sound of a bonegrinding kick drum and distrorted buzzsaw synth.
The brutalist industrialism of GR Size squares up with a solid crack right in the throat. What starts as a relatively tame track (by Komp’s standards) soon becomes a whirling mass of corrosive synths. The outbreak of frenzy at the three minute mark is sort of what we imagine the infernal machines that roll around hell would sound like.
Repoiz switches things into hypnotic mode; a track emboldened by looping percussion, vocal stuttering, and abrupt synth stabs. Turn your sub up to give that booming bottom end the limelight it deserves, won’t you.
Hardgroove style is the order of the day as Knight charges into the collection to deliver five-and-a-half minutes of peak time mesmerism, complete with a glorious echoing synth line that breaks out in the final third of the track. This is our favourite production on the album; that drop in the closing minute is the kind that tops your techno set off nicely with some euphoria.
Speaking of which, up next is the festival of the devil himself. Halloween is the third track on the album, and follows its predecessor with a brief respite from the gates of Hades. Panning melodic pads commence the composition, chilling as they may be, before some intensely demonic percs enter the fray for the final three minutes of mayhem. A very fitting penultimate interlude.
Theo isn’t all about industrial brutality, though. His parting shot is more of a genuinely loving embrace compared the previously described acts of violence. Indian Flute is still techno, but after the maelstrom we just travelled through, its relatively downtempo eastern promise offers comfort and a steaming chai.
Grab it on Bandcamp, for listening at home and in the dance.