Haujobb, "ninetynine"

After the unexpected drum n' bass high-futurism of "Solutions For A Small Planet", Haujobb retreated even deeper and higher into their sterile JG Ballard high-rise for "ninetynine". Sound can't exist in a vacuum, but Daniel Myer and Dejan Samardzic try to prove otherwise across ten tracks of ambient landscapes and ethereal space. This is not your rivet-head's Haujobb.

Far more minimalist than "Solutions", "ninetynine" seems to have grown out of the work Haujobb did on "The Matrix", an album featuring remixes of "Solutions" tracks as well as new material. While the remixes done by outside parties didn't do much to further the music (Covenant contributed little more than their trademark 4-4 bass crunch), the work done by Haujobb themselves seemed to indicate they were eager to slow things down and explore what the space between beats sounded like. They exploit that desire to the fullest on "ninetynine". Vanessa Briggs contributes de riguer breathy ethereal vocals to no less than four tracks, rooting the listener firmly in the chill-out ethos. Quiet beats are augmented by the tidal breathing of calm synths with nary a sci-fi movie sample to disturb the listener. Tapping string players to add an "orchestral" level to music is a played out trick that countless electronic musicians (ranging from brilliant to shit) have exploited, but how many albums released by Metropolis Records feature an oboe? Well, one.

Technology remains the central theme of Haujobb's music, but whereas early tracks like "Eye Over You" raged about surveillance and conspiracy, "ninetynine" is almost an expressionist representation of drifting in bio-mechanical soup or liquid code. In a nutshell, Haujobb have focussed in on technology so closely that the subject has become wholly abstract. Fittingly, the lyrics are more a byproduct of inhabiting the world Haujobb evoke than an attempt at communicating much of substance:

"send/receive/open/close/sleep/awake"

As thoroughly developed and enjoyable as it is, "ninetynine" is a testament to the barriers that exist between the increasingly stratified genres of electronic music. Having made their name in the industrial world, Haujobb's experimentation was met with accusations of selling out and going soft. The only problem with that accusation is that there wasn't anyone to sell out to. In a just world, records like "ninetynine" would be picked up and celebrated by afficionados of chill and ambient, but it looks as though many of those people are as unwilling to listen to an ambient record put out by an industrial band as industrial fans.

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