Nyege Nyege Tapes
Saccades is a mind-bending collaboration between experimental electronic musician Rian Treanor and Acholitronix pioneer Ocen James, a member of Uganda’s Nyege Nyege music collective. Treanor has always played a different ball game from his contemporaries, and Saccades is no different.
Treanor received widespread acclaim for his 2020 LP, File Under UK Metaplasm, a complex, audacious blend of dance styles with a distinctly African flavour. A cacophonous, kinetic record that lurched and bounced along at lightning speed. Treanor constructs his rhythms like a scientist, a formulaic composer who seeks to bend the boundaries of dance music. Treanor and James met in Uganda at the Nyege Nyege Festival, a moment that was revelatory for Treanor.
Saccades sees Treanor and James fuse their styles to create an idiosyncratic, compelling record. It is an example of cultural synergy, with James’s performance especially outstanding. James accompanies Treanor’s wacky rhythms on the rigi rigi, a Ugandan one-stringed instrument, showcasing a marvelous ability to provoke a wide range of sounds that perfectly collide with Treanor’s patterns.
On the first track, ‘Bunga Bule’, he creates these high-pitched animal-like shrieks, which dance in and out of Treanor’s clattering, off-kilter rhythms. ‘As It Happens’ has a similar animalistic energy, while Treanor crafts this organic percussion which sounds like a stone rattling around a bucket. ‘The Dead Centre’ provides the first discernable melody, James harnessing the frenetic energy of an Irish jig. ‘Agoya’ provides some popping, scattergun rhythms, James’s staccato plucking weaving through them expertly.
‘Memory Pressure’ is a mysterious affair, filled with this thick, microtonal twang. ‘Naassaccade’ serves as a form of organic techno, the whole track popping and crackling with a cavernous reverb. ‘Rigi Rigi’ features some of the hyperactive pulsing Treanor cultivated on File Under UK Metaplasm, combining with the vibrant strings to create a ball of relentless energy.
‘Tiyo Ki’ is a haunting, techno, avant-garde effort, full of distorted beeps that play over Treanor’s machine-gun-like percussion while James creates these manic chainsaw sounds with the rigi rigi. ‘Casascade’ delves into a dystopic ambient territory, Treanor creating this dense foggy feel that James’s rigi rigi slices through. The final track, ‘Remo-Rom – Farmers Manual Remix’, sees a return to the animal-like squealing, clashing with the clanging cacophony of percussion Treanor creates. It’s profoundly unrhythmic but thrillingly urgent, featuring some vocals from some Ugandan folk singers who compete amongst the noise.
Saccades is a wonderful cultural collision, a throbbing, urgent record that is a testament to Treanor and James’ respective skills. It’s exciting, occasionally elusive, but utterly compelling, another example of Treanor’s skills of musical cohesion.