Caterina Barbieri "Ecstatic Computation" CD

This is undoubtedly one of the most noteworthy electronic music works of 2019. Berlin-based Italian composer Caterina Barbieri's latest album, released by Editions Migo, a long-established Austrian electronic sound label that has produced artists such as Fennesz and Emeralds, is available on CD exclusively in Japan. Recommended for fans of Krautrock and post-rock, this is a masterpiece with a mesmerizing delicate yet grand soundscape.

Caterina Barbieri is an Italian composer whose sonically focused work explores themes of machine intelligence and object-oriented cognition through a focus on minimalism.

Ecstatic Computation is the new full-length album by Caterina Barbieri, following her critically acclaimed 2017 2LP, Patterns Of Consciousness. The album revolves around the creative use of complex sequencing techniques and pattern-based movement to explore the product of human perception and memory processes, ultimately inducing a sense of ecstasy and contemplation. Computation transforms from a state of formal automatic writing technique into a creative and psychedelic practice to generate ephemeral hallucinations; a trance state and a wonder where the perception of time is distorted and challenged.

Rapid permutations of patterns, equal parts nervous and ecstatic, allow time to stand still and move at the same time. Is this propulsive music moving forward or backward? This question lies silently beside the thrilling and perplexing moments of the problem at hand, as present awareness is constantly augmented and refreshed in the never-ending search for loss, rediscovery and self-direction.

Filled with ecstatic sensations, this is a psychedelic, trancey masterpiece by one of the most noteworthy musicians today.

■Track list