Johnstown, Pennsylvania, has the unfortunate additional moniker of Flood City, having been vulnerable to deadly floods over generations. Documenting this phenomenon has largely been a mainstay of traditional artists, however, local resident, Tatiana Triplin a.k.a. Nondi_, paints a memorable depiction of these devastating events.
Having absorbed influences such as footwork, breakcore, and Detroit techno, solely from the internet, Nondi_ has filled the gaps with imaginative quicksilver beats and melodic motifs aligned to vapourware or plunderphonics. Occasionally, an acceleration of the BPM injects a jolt of adrenaline, but there isn’t a reliance on beats, as character is evident in every spooked detail.
Whilst this sub aquatic expedition along hidden algorithms seeps into your neural pathways you can forget the gravity of the subject matter – Triplin’s own family survived a major flood in 1977 – but as an illumination of small town tragedy, it’s an electronic revelation, morphing it’s many strands into a modern day classic.
