Imperfection in the digital age: in an increasingly smooth, function-oriented world, inaccuracies and deviations from the norm represent an alternative to perfect, neat digital production; in effect, an aesthetic of noise and distortion is cultivated. On the trio INNODE’s third album, ‘grain’ primarily refers to the texture of the tracks: coarse, warm, unpolished and thus tactile and tangible – not unlike the aesthetics of an analogue photograph. It always starts with Bernhard Breuer’s drums interacting with drum computers. This complex human-machine connection, in which they react to and overlap with each other, forms the grain from which the respective tracks grow. These microstructures are then looped, distorted, redirected with modular synthesis, made to stumble or (partially) erased. The resulting material is developed into driving compositions that take on a band-like timbre for the first time on ‘Grain’. Closer to jamming than concept-based tinkering – especially in the live performance setting of the festival – the musicians react spontaneously to their own irregular rhythms.

INNODE (from Vienna) consists of Steven Hess (Pan American, among others), Bernhard Breuer (Elektro Guzzi) and Stefan Németh, who represents the methodical and productive core of the trio. On all three albums since 2013 (‘Gridshifter’, ‘Syn’ and “Grain”), INNODE stands for an approach that MusicAustria has described as ‘standing with your back to the dance floor’. Sequencing and structure are at the forefront of electronic music, but always remain experimental, edgy, rugged and more interested in the sound spectrum than in effects. Their albums on the Mego label are considered milestones in Austrian abstract electronic music.