1.5.20 by Ryan Masteller

Do you guys know Derek Piotr? You might not – he’s a multiplatform releaser, not confined to the cassette genre (like you backward Neanderthals reading this are – if I wasn’t chained to this I-beam like Jesse Pinkman in Breaking Bad: El Camino, I’d be writing about REAL formats like compact discs … Ow!). At any rate, Piotr’s got a nice long discography, and I’ve been writing about his releases for several years, so … take it from me.

“Live in Denton” is exactly what you think it is – a live document recorded in Denton, Texas, on August 11, 2019. Piotr had released his most recent record, “Avia,” on August 2. He was likely feeling quite exhilarated. The results bear out that assessment. Mainly utilizing vocal samples, Piotr creates alien soundworlds that run the gamut from downtempo Thom Yorke-ian electro to blasts of digital noise all, with at least a hint of a human voice. True, these “hints” can be completely disembodied or fragmented through software, but they’re voices nonetheless. (Spoiler alert – there is no Thom Yorke-type singing whatsoever.)

If you weren’t listening to what Piotr was doing that night in Denton, you’d be able to hear a pin drop, that’s how rapt you had to have been. Piotr commands the room, demanding attention as he runs through a straight thirty-minute performance where he mixes vocals and vocal samples with what often sounds like literal electricity, manipulated as a grounding mechanism for vocalizations. Whether he settles into a minimal groove or contents himself with constantly surprising you with explosions of sound, Piotr proves yet again that he’s an artistic force to be reckoned with, a fascinating producer at the cutting edge of electronic music.

Limited edition of 30 from Cavern Brew Records!