The contribution of Maska Genetik to the “Kosmoloko” compilation (2004) belongs to my most favourite tracks. The 2006 7″ “Quarantine” is a great one too. Still for many years it never seemed that there would ever be more material of Maska Genetik. As far as I knew, the project ceased to be. Then I got the Galakthorrö newsletter that announced the “Strada” album. I never even dared to hope for it! Yet the story behind this cd is a tragic one. The material was recorded between 2002 and 2005 and is older and newer than the tracks on “Quarantine”. In that period “Butterfly” was released and who knows how the two projects influenced eachother. After three years of hard work, Amon Radek told Galaktorrö: “I’ve reached the limits of my strength”. A perfectionist as he is, he decided that it was better for his health to abbandon the project. All these years Galakthorrö had “Strada” on the shelf with the idea that Radek would come back with one or two reworked tracks. He never did… After all these years, the material is made available for the world. Maska Genetik is a real Galakthorrö project. I wonder how the label found a Moscowite making music similar to themselves. I find it a strange idea that this is the album that the artist was not completely satisfied with. Indeed, “Strada” is not the masterpiece I hoped for. Especially the first tracks are nice, but nothing like the material that I already knew. Towards the end come a few masterpieces. The sound is that of angstpop of years back, from before Herz Jühning and the time that Haus Arafna perfected the style. It is less catchy, less ‘poppy’, darker in a way, more industrial perhaps. Maska Genetik also sounds more desperate, the mood reminds of the older November Növelet material. Dark industrial music with vocals and soft rhythms and strange sounds. Radek surely was a mastermind of dark electronics and I am extremely gratefull to Galakthorrö that they decided to release the album afterall.
Link: Galakthorrö