Anòmia defines itself as a platform for ideas rather than by a signature sound. Though the Barcelona label releases experimental electronic music, it sidesteps cliches common to the form by drawing away from aesthetic concerns and towards artistic process. These processes may involve software such as Max/MSP or Supercollider, an extended riff on a simple theme, or unusual release formats (catalogue numbers have been assigned to posters, t-shirts, music videos and an app by Bhob Rainey). It's also a key archival label – Anòmia isn't keen on reissues – that has unearthed forgotten recordings of Catalan radio shows and unheard 1980s punk band rehearsals. Whatever the form they take, Anòmia records reflect an anti-commercial spirit with a passion for the unusual.

Nederlandse Maatschappij Ontwikkeling (NMO)
“Full Spectrum Dominance”

NMO (Martin J Olsen and Rubén Patiño) are one of a few dancefloor adjacent acts on Anòmia, and “Full Spectrum Dominance” is a silly club wrecker. The wayward atonality of its lead is set against a marching 4/4 thump replete with drummer boy snare rolls. It's the sort of thing you could imagine DJ duo Optimo playing to a leather crowd at 5am.

Kamran Shafii
“eniDezffr”

The wide range of music found on Anòmia is thanks to artists like the Iranian composer Kamran Shafii whose interests lie not in aesthetics but in process (though recent work such as last year's Corpora Vilia EP has developed an avant-classical style first heard on 2015's DzGI). His last release for Anòmia (Pithy & Prolix) blended musique concrete and electroacoustic sound with needly Alva Noto-esque precision, but a standout track from 2015 is "eniDezffr" where Shafii's focus on algorithmic composition and digital synthesis found an unusual outlet in a pretty yet dizzying serialist étude.

LXV
“Apophenia”

The inspiration behind the album on which “Apophenia” appears is complicated – it's essentially about what LXV calls “spectral communication” and whether it can be reliably perceived or experienced. But the deep textures within David Wesley Sutton's ambient scrublands are easy to appreciate. On “Apophenia” you'll encounter what sounds like ASMR clips minced through a sine wave. The results suggest a confessional intimacy, but as the piece continues it turns into a New Age nightmare of clamouring water features, harps and bird calls.

Max Eilbacher
“Syrian Rue Club Track”

Max Eilbacher, one of many Anòmia artists with a keen interest in process based music, is responsible for one of the label's strangest tracks, “DU”. In the first few seconds, some odd vocalisations – slurping, lip-smacking, sneezing, glossolalia – circle each other, grasping in vain for rhythm and sense. Intriguing as it is, I'd more readily recommend “Syrian Rue Club Track”, a short but punchy cluster of Morse code comms, blistered thumb piano and digital glissandos, ultimately resembling a distress signal patched through Max/MSP.

Ex Continent
“Participant”

One of Anòmia's most ambitious records comes, unsurprisingly, from its founder Arnau Sala Saez. His debut album, Participant, is an uneasy reckoning with globalisation, sensory overload and the contradictions of ever-closer connection. In musical terms, its combination of urban field recording and electronic music is a rich yet fragmented listening experience. The results hit a sweet spot between provocation and accessibility – best of all may be the title track, a twitchy, techno highway nightscape of sodium-lamp synth trails.

die Reihe
“Section VI”

At the heart of Vocoder, an album by die Reihe, is a simple and ingenious idea. In each track, the American artist demonstrates the vocoder's function and possibility by explaining the otherwise unseen process(es) applied to his voice. As the artist explains, “One of the most important aspects of this piece is how the text both explains how the piece functions and itself generates the piece”. It is simultaneously the end result and the making of. The sing-song tone of “Section VI” is a tutorial that mentions a series of chords common to early house music (for a more ‘show, don't tell’ version, try the exceptional “106 Kerri Chandler Chords”).

Read Ray Philp's Unlimited Editions article in The Wire 439. Subscribers can also access via the digital archive.