Any time you see an M-Tronic release you can confidently pick it up 'cause you know it's gonna be kick-ass damn good electro-industrial music. "Chemical Elements 1.0" by Polish CH District (aka Miroslaw Matyasik) and Dutch Duuster (aka Ton Driessens, also responsible for the sounds of Element 11) keeps up the tradition and defies gravity and expectations with what is the first in a series of split collaboration CDs. In 1.0 the two artists have 6 tracks each and then share one track to express their chemical visions and their fuming and stirring distilled soundscapes. The reactions produced by Ch District are in the field of hard-hitting saturated-bass drum techno-industrial with calm bell-y sounds and relaxing sequences of sleepy tunes. A thoughtful blend of tranquil, synthetic and harmonious sounds with and modern low-fi, raw and scratchy rhythmical structures.
I think you can't help but to talk of Aphex Twin when you write about Ch District, but the point is there's just a great balance between the two opposite factors. Duuster seem to be more into ethereal ambientronics and they rarely really take off on beats the way their CD-mates do. Their obscure and liquid molecular electronica revolves around downtempo and airy ambience but when they get carried away with the beats they know how to keep it clean and exciting. The last song of the CD is the collaborative track and is a good example of how the two above described elements are mixed and blended together to clone the ultimate formula of industrial-ambient. Really great chemistry. The album comes in a nice black-matte cardboard digi-package with silver ink