Flex Core with Bendik Baksaas

After years of refining his understanding of emotion and dance, Norwegian composer, producer, and musician Bendik Baksaas has now found his unique voice in techno. His background includes everything from heavy metal and Norwegian folk music to jazz, and he is currently devoted to bringing ancient Viking traditions into the nightclub.

As a live performer, Baksaas rests in the flux state of improvisation and cherishes the fate of being present in the sound experience. As a producer, he gravitates towards holistic tracks, where every detail is essential to the groove. He always examines phenomena such as call and response, action and reaction, or the interplay of sound and silence.

The album came into being through playful modular trips and painstakingly developing the in-the-box processing of drums. Named after the basic movements of rave dance, Flex Core is where shoulders mirror the hips, swinging from left to right, and encapsulates the simultaneous power of grounding and the flow of walking. This dance inspires Baksaas in life and music, and he translates it into driving drums and emotive melodies in an uplifting wave. Like all good dance music, this album doesn't just fuel the dance floor. It is a musical expression of dance itself made with love, great attention to detail, and celebration of the presence in all its glorious intensity.

The throbbing house sounds of "Lose Myself in U" get things underway with a heart-aching and pitched-up vocal, then "Wise" hunkers down into a pulsating deep techno groove with deft cosmic pads. "Do Easy" is a menacing and dubbed-out techno head wrecker that is always on the move, and "Modular Home" brings harder, darker intensity to proceedings.

There is a tribal element to the percussion that flutters over the punchy drums of "Out Looks at You." At the same time, "Sudden May" is glitchy, dystopian, and decaying techno for gritty warehouse parties. "My Hometown" ups the intensity with wild synth textures and squealing lines, all lighting up the airwaves above the dance floor, and "Back in Session" and "Ring of the Queen" shut down with no frills, masterfully reduced loop techno that never lets up.

Techno albums can generally be rather boring, but somehow, and cleverly, I might add, Bendik Baksaas has managed to bring a level of handsomely well-crafted excitement and curiosity into the mix that makes the album "Flex Core" something to joyfully explore, like a layered cake that keeps on giving.

Bendik Baksaas - Flex Core LP
Release Date 11th October 2024
Label Snick Snack Music

Tracklist
01. Lose Myself in U
02. Wise
03. Do Easy
04. Modular Home
05. Out Looks at You
06. Sudden May
07. My Hometown
08. Back in Session
09. Ring of the Queen