INSTITUT – Perpetuum Mobile. Made in Sweden.

Wasted postmodernistic predictions that every possible tune in the world has been already composed. Electronic music is continually transforming into something new and modern style of music has chosen its favourite – “power electronics”, the fiercest style of electronic music. Actually, I mean the extreme and dark electronic music which covers only a small part of modern tunes.

 “Power electronics” may be considered the advanced (magnum) hybrid of “industrial” music style, which is more preeminent than the most extreme “digital hardcore”, “industrial”, “breakcore” concerning its straightness of sound and brutality. If compared by ideological load, it exceeds even “noise”. The concept of this music is straight-out shocking and provocation of the audience by using specific sound structures and effective video installations. This style emerged at the beginning of the eighth decade of XX c. in England and at the beginning of XXI c. extended its reign over the world of hard music melomans. An interesting thing occurs – the origin of this style was stimulated by the young people’s need for expressing the extreme ideas more than any music style ever existed.

Forges of “power electronics” are placed at the particularly developed capitalistic societies and according to the certain features, few schools are discerned: USA, German, Italian, British and Scandinavian. It is hardly to say when the Scandinavian “power electronics” was formed still the fact remains unchallenged that strongest representatives of this style – Swedish – revealed their masterpieces to the world later than the others. And extremely successfully. By then, Swedish were considered the brilliant makers of “darkwave”, “industrial”, “ambient”, but music styles of “power electronics” were propagated by British, Americans and Germans. Things changed when one pretty morning the legendary Scandinavian compilation “Estheticks of cruelty” appeared on the trade bars and the audience staring at the small cover picture of butcher sitting near the hooked carcass (label of the legendary “Cold Meat Industry”) had realized that Swedish not only make the high-quality “power electronics”, but also overpass their colleagues in many ways. One of the compilation’s favourites, which earned the world’s fame particularly overnight, was the Swedish project “Institut”, the driving power of which is the demon Lirim Cajani, jobless actor dedicated his life to music creation and parties at the bars. Broadly speaking, such phenomenon like Lirim and his music is most similar to the phenomenon of socialistic Sweden. All wealth accumulated in Sweden is fairly allocated to the community. That was the reason for the community had become wealthy. Still rolling in money, widely populating the wastelands of their country, Swedish are bored and, as a result, some individuals have rebelled and looked for the strong irritants. Extreme, vibrant, uncompromising music is one of them.

It makes no wonder that Sweden is namely where the top tens of most saleable CD’s in the country always contain about five with the conception of brutal music. Bewitching blonde (only as Scandinavian) Johanna Rosenqvist, the historian of arts and science at the Lund University, who was co-participating in the project “Institut” during the certain time, in one of her interviews explained that she was ravished by the extreme electronic music for the contrasting to the quietude of Swedish villages where she spend all her childhood. Actually, musical rebellion of “Institut” was highly delicate from the very first of its records. More over, this feature is common to the entire scene of Swedish “power electronics” and the main reason is probably that Swedish (either for their specific socialistic origin or particular geographical isolation) never misused the ideological clichés or were very sophisticated in doing that, as distinct from their colleagues Germans who often maintain the Nazi, militaristic ideas to excess, or from Americans and Italians who are crazy for porno and serial killers. The conceptions of “Institut” are abstract and neutral enough. Instead of forthright and shocking statements, project leaders speak soundly and wisely, but not abusively as most artists of “power electronics” are seeking to. “Institut” describes the creative mechanism as following: “Every product of creation is politics. Even most apolitical groups have their own political implications. Only the anarchistic spring could be free enough in expressing one’s fantasies.” Stating their ideology, “Institut” emphasises the musical categories: rhythm, “dirty sound” that serve for the creators to frame their eccentric relation with the audience. Manipulation with rhythm allows to neutralize and to overtake the audience. “Institut” believes in a community, planning, progress and continuity of the industrial/futuristic revolution, and these namely serve as the concepts of creation, though the shocking paradox – these concepts expressed by using destructive sound. “Institut” is not ordinary style of “power electronics” and this is certified by the components powering the project.

Such music was impacted (though it is very unusual to “power electronics” scene) by the architecture monuments and giant “sleeping districts” of Sweden, the fragment of which may be detected on the cover of “Great Day to get even”. Lirim was growing in such a surrounding deeply engraved in his memory and therefore the “urban” component is so substantial to the concept of “Institut”. More over, the project was influenced by “disco” and “concrete” music styles which in comparison to the aspect of “power electronics” are true materializations of innocence. Perhaps therefore “Institut” is one of the very few projects of “power electronics” style when music being so fierce and at the same time right to dance and get wild. Deeply aggressive monotonic rhythm is suddenly transforming to the woman’s bawling, then continuing with the perverted tune of “disco” style, and instead of video backgrounds, common-to-death to the stylistic of “power electronics”, showing the inhuman war documentary or “bizzare porno”, “Institut” just put out some top Swedish TV show instructing about how to cook the omelette for breakfast. Once, Lirim said that all formal aesthetics of “power electronics” are simply the theatre, no matter the suggestive efforts of the artists. This is most likely the reason the “Institut” do not prefer traditional shocking attributes. Anarchistic sense of this project could be well-compared to the raging of famous German “Atari Teenage Riot”, only the sound expression of the latter is considerably milder. Foreign underground music magazines describe a weird phenomenon when “industrial” music fans are highly irritated about the metals crowded at the “Institut” performances to get wild and at the same time they usually avoid electronic music and even disdain it. This fact reveals another interesting feature of the “Institut” music – it makes especial effect when played live. Though on the other side, this is the common feature of “power electronics”. After all, as I’ve mentioned, the essential target of this music is the audience and all efforts of “power electronics” performers are subjected to affect it as much as possible. Lirim asked whether the “Institut” music is a hobby or life style, answered: “It is perpetuum mobile, machine that never stops”. As made in Sweden, it seems to be of high-quality.

Written by Lashisha, translated Ruta Muller, 2004-03-03