Neu Unknown

: Unknown
Based: Unknown
Listen at: Youtube.com/unknownmusic9
Similar to: Burial

“People listen to the music more openly when they don’t know anything about the person.”

We’ve heard all kinds of spiel about anonymity and its effects, about how we’re all such dreadful, shallow people who shouldn’t give a damn who Burial is, who’d spend our time much better if we listened to all music in a dark room with no sideshows. It’s probably true, but anonymous acts have become a thing of marketing regularity, rather than a genuine attempt to let the music speak for itself. We’ve been fooled every so often in these past 12 months, watching from a distance as “anonymous” artists sign major record deals and perform on French chat shows. Some of us feel cheated.

Unknown’s above statement, then, can either be taken with a pinch of salt or - and this is the recommended route - you can see it as the ideal introduction for some of the most immersive electronic music around, the kind that requires no SBTRKT-mask or thin veil, the kind that is pure and unrelentingly beautiful.

Three tracks have been unveiled to date. As time progresses, we’re unlikely to find anything out about the artist, bar which record deal he/she is affiliated with when the time comes to release a debut 12” (we’re talking days, not weeks). ‘Untitled #001’ and ‘Untitled #003’ are each fairly standard fare, enough to whet the appetite. ‘Untitled #002’ is stunning, however; a hair-raising depth-seeking excavation into the darkest corners of Earth, with gorgeous female vocal samples lending further sadness to the slumber the song sinks itself into. The very epitome of anonymity needn’t show his/her face - and we’ve got enough to enjoy, here, before the bellowing demands for a revealing of identity begin to arrive.