
Rontronik
Zero Nine
Tygr Rawwk Rcrds
What could possibly be more hopeful than the sound of chattering birds returning after a long absence? Initially appearing in Zero Nine opener “Zero Nine One” – track titles all numbered as such here – they migrate from a serene, wintry expanse into a hothouse of spring-like euphoria, gradually filling the air with chirping glee over softly rushing water. It ends in violence, as they fall down a chute of shattered, glitchy fragments.
And just when it seems they’ll never be heard from again, electronic auteur Rontronik, the pseudonym of New York producer Ron Croudy, calls them back for the optimistic and warm conclusion to a set of lush, atmospheric tone poems that deftly assimilate field recordings into cinematic settings of slowly unfolding, hypnotic ambiance and burrowing, constantly mutating drone. Its incandescent glow imparts a sense of awed wonder and security, as if heaven itself was opening wide its doors and emitting a flood of crystalline light.

“Zero Nine Three” soars even higher, airy and choir-like in its dreamy, upward trajectory, then gently floating down and exhaling in contemplative bliss, interrupted by slightly abrasive rubbing and trip-hop skitter. Textural chaos erupts in an unsettling “Zero Nine Four,” with clattering beats tattooing contorted, rounded sound sculpture imbued with deepening menace, while steady clicks – echoing the spinning spokes of bicycle wheels – spin over the shapely, rotating aural formations of “Zero Nine Five.”
Immersive world-building exercises are the stuff Zero Nine is made of, with its multi-hued canyons and caves, its endless skies and strangely inviting topography. Wait times to experience its otherworldly beauty are short, as Croudy – his collaborations with KRS-One and A Tribe Called Quest cementing his credibility, noisier affairs from the past living in his closet – balances immediacy with the kind of experimentation that reveals more with every visit. He’s carefully arranged all the elements to artfully trigger a range of emotions and moods. New Age never sounded so interesting.