Ascii.Disko - Sa Sete Sore Korosu Anata (2023)

Sa sete Sore Korosu Anata’ – Japan-influenced new album from German Underground Electronica Legend delivers 12 brilliant tracks from ruthless motoric repetitions to spherical bliss


With his string of successful and acclaimed album releases in the early 2000s Ascii.Disko combined electronica, techno and house with indie, punk rock and art like no one else, leading to a feted international reputation and career. After a ten year hiatus 2021 his masterpiece ‘Todos los Conciertos, Todas las Noches, Todo vacío’ marked an unexpected, much loved return – a brilliant showcase that all of his artistic instincts were still fully in place. The release of his new album ‘Sa sete Sore Korosu Anata’ marks his sonic reflections of two trips to Japan that is followed by three EPs in 2023 and pretty much raises hopes he´s really back for good!

The backstory to Ascii.Disko’s brand new album ‘Sa sete Sore Korosu Anata’ definitely proves there´s some truth in the common German saying ‘Travel broadens the mind’. With all his sonic trademarks immediately recognizable, this time they´re served with a Japanese twist. Again, just like on his comeback record, his wife, the internationally renowed Spanish artist Ana Laura Alaez, plays a significant role in the genesis of these 12 brooding new tracks that take you from unforgivingly pumping club thumpers to sonic euphoria and back. In fact, their artistic cooperation, that sees him providing sonic soundscapes to her exhibitions are responsible for keeping his musical spark well alive.

Two joint trips to Japan in 2019 and 2022 sparked the artistic igniton behind ‘Sa sete Sore Korosu Anata’ as the several weeks experience of this entirely unknown culture led to some spectacular insights and discoveries that might only reveal to the really attentive. As contradictory as the co-existence of hypermodern city life and deeply routed spirituality in Japanese culture might have felt at first glance, the more he found out, the more it made sense to Ascii.Disko and fascinated him no end. Does the presence of ghosts of generations gone by mean some places are plain haunted or are the ghosts still around to take care of their living loved ones? Does the presence of spirituality in temples or small shacks in hidden side streets keep overcrowded, buzzing megacities from overheating, providing an earthing bridge between future and past?

The twelve tracks on ‘Sa sete Sore Korosu Anata’ don´t aim to have an answer to these thoughts, but yet are heavily reflecting on the experience. The opening and closing tracks ‘Shinrei’ and ‘Shide’ are tributes to the everpresent ghosts – the spherical texture soothes the listeners to open their minds for a new experience, the beguiling sounds of ‘Jisa boke’ draws them in further, before ‘Fukushū no inori’ and ‘Utsukushi-sa, kyōki, hakai’ throw them right into the repetitive grind of the megacity life. The haunting title track ‘Sa sete Sore Korosu Anata’ leaves you bewildered and constantly looking over your shoulder, before the blissful ‘Inari’ and the euphoric ‘Tokidoki’ reveal that there´s nothing to fear, the shattered tremolo of ‘Suzu-shi no tobi’ and the wide reverb of ‘Kūsō’ comfort you like a green sidestreet oasis in the buzzing city life, before ‘Tekii’ tells you it´s time to get going again to reach the state of euphoria ‘Hinode’ provides. By the time you’re approaching the closing ‘Shide’, an ode to the little paper snippets separating the divine world form the earthly existence, you feel so energized you immediately want to start the listening experience all over again….from pastoral outskirts to the beating heart of the city - ‘Sa sete Sore Korosu Anata’ takes you by the hand for a captivating trip!

At closer glance, it´s little wonder Japanese life and culture´s affected Ascii.Disko as it did. Obviously no stranger to contradictions himself – who else would start his idea of a comeback with a track of all songtitles named “Stillstand” (Stand still) that was set to put his life into the entirely different direction from where the title may suggest? The Tattoo Artist, graphic designer and avid biker with two vintage Harley Davidsons in his garage lives on the balearic island of Mallorca with his wife Ana Laura Alaez and their cats – a set up that doesn´t necessarily give a conclusion of his global outlook to life, culture and our modern societies.

Either way you put it: It´s great to have him back!