Have we really reached a state of « post techno crisis »? That questionning is legit and would have been legit even ten years earlier. It’s not with words that Franks tends to respond to that question. Rather with his music and through an enhanced discrography that has been unfolding Since 2005. Frank Bogdanowitz aka Dr.Nojoke has been working on technoid sound-sculptures with an experimental and minimal approach, based on his archive of self-made audio and field recordings. Through processing and editing he defines a groovy, deeply hypnotic, quirky music he calls « Clikno ». As his own biography suggests: « Dr.Nojoke loves those small noises. His sound archive is full of poppy, clicky, glitchy, scratchy, smacky and quirky sounds he finds with his microphone.
He searches for the things, which are inbetween and behind the things and pays attention to the unpredictable and incidental.
Like a surgeon, he dissects his recorded noises and instruments, selects, edits and processes them, weaves a new structure and combines them with some electronic sounds and effects.
For each project, Dr.Nojoke uses a specific working process and sound material. Each track uses new sets of sound. ».
To any connoisseur reading these words or further ones from his website’s biography, this sub-genre he refers to might sound just like a logical suite to such things as early minimal techno, micro house. For example « Clicks and cuts » compilations released on Mille Plateaux could define the golden era of that particular branch of techno quite well. After that, pioneers of that sound have all been following their own path. Just like them, Frank has probably drifted away from basic "minimal techno" and made his own mark. In fact, the same way as very few minimal techno producers did like Villalobos, Murcof, Alva Noto, Burnt Friedman and Jan Jelinek (that he considers as major influences), we believe that Dr.Nojoke invented a whole sub genre, a whole environment where he, accompanied by his recordings and diverses techniques, is pulling the strings and calling the shots. That’s probably at this point that this kind of music becomes the most interesting, distinct and personal; When the artist is ruling his little world and applying a whole bunch of processes, recipes and rules that he has built and keeps on building and improving every day. This way, he gets to have, at the same time, full control of his machinery and enough space for what is and has to be fortuitous. Those who had the chance to see and hear him playing live would definitely understand what we’re talking about. Nojoke is a kind of studio operative worker and manic sound collector. Although « Conceptual » wouldn’t be a fine word to describe his music neither, as the concept, if there is one, is wrapped up and shrouded enough to not be heard as the starting point of his works.
That’s maybe what we liked at first listen of Frank’s music and what made us want to contact him. This brilliant combination and assimiliation of well digested influences (from minimal and micro to UK breakbeat and dub techno) was unusual, intriguing and very impressive.
We recommend to check « Opanga » released on our « 5 Years Of Goldmin Music » compilation, a quite extreme, outlandish and puzzling track. We’ve been instantly amazed by that one and thought there would be no better introduction to what was coming next. And what is coming next is this mini album « Post Techno Crisis ». It brings another 6 tracks on the table for no less than 50 minutes of microdub ballads, which hopefully contain a bit of this artists singularity and subtlety.