Piska Power - Life Piano Man
Piska Powers' brand of dark industrial music draws heavily from classic industrial-adjacent genres like power electronics, not only in its static but also in its unhinged and often nonlinear narratives. His music incorporates the heavy buzz of electrical transformers and the seedy but vibrant underbelly of major cities. The Berliner touches down on LíM records with a surprisingly intimate blend of harsh noise and quivering synthesisers.
Life Piano Man (2026) is Piska Power's attempt to open up genre conventions, enabling even more experimentation. this time, not with a blaze of static, but with unconventional sound design, feathery pads, and much more atmosphere than we're used to. From the outset of the record, it's clear that something different is brewing. Beginning with 'Shatima Shatima', the track opens with what I can only describe as a liquid dreamscape. Android birds chirp as an uncanny swell is introduced, evoking images of rainy streetlamps. The combination of pads and bass is so saturated that two instruments become one. This sort of visual language and world-building continues throughout the track, with an undercurrent of movement. swaths of elegant beauty hide between the distorted kicks as Piska Power's trademark heavy electronic sound design remains prevalent throughout. Still, interestingly, this time around, we were afforded tracks like 'Frogbirds (They Knew New Knees)', which introduce an uncommon elasticity to the mix. Industrial rubber bands twang and recoil with a deep warmth and crackling overtones. Through Piska Power's relentless search for saturation, these usually tame, springy sounds common in more diluted EDM take on a huge weight. Uncharacteristic growls delve between the high-paced kick drum, which, at first listen, can be quite disorientating. That is, until it clicks and you realise that's the point. Disorientation, anxiety, and a rising heart rate are symptoms of the jump-started HGV battery intensity.
By the halfway point, there's a clear pattern forming. With Piska Power, experimentation is guaranteed. Experimentation doesn't always mean pushing the boundaries of what's possible. Experimentation can also mean allowing oneself to explore uncharted territories, so when we get to the title track, it seems that Piska Power intends to subvert audience expectations. These new auditory experiments seem to fall into categories, with 'Live Piano Man' capturing the melancholy of life. It's the grey skies and rain on the windows. There's a propensity among artists to dwell on this. Sometimes it feels like they are oversaturating the listener with mood, whereas Piska Power offers acceptance. Still, Piska Power has struck a nice balance. The piano stabs, reminiscent of old hardcore tracks, come thick and fast, quickly cementing the track as a dance-floor filler.
In contrast, 'Fade Away' divorces itself from convention through its use of text-to-speech vocals and its non-adherence to genre conventions. What could be a serviceable electro-pop record has been distorted beyond recognition. The rolling basslines wander out of key, the poppy kicks and rimshots breed a sense of unconventionality, very punk rock, along with an interesting vocal hook that's modulated within an inch of its life. The track almost falls apart as each element slowly becomes bent into an almost unrecognisable blend of digital metallic artifacting. Piska Power aims to reintroduce a cognitive dissonance between what the audience expects and what he delivers.
Live Piano Man is a record of two halves, with 'Shatima Shatima' and 'Live Piano Man' sharing many stylistic similarities. Whether it be that reliance on chords and melodies instead of strict rhythms, or the beauty that comes from quiet reverb and less harsh distortion, the pair are probably the most accessible you'll hear from Piska Power. In recent times. Contrastingly, 'Frogbirds' and 'Fade Away' remind fans about the unbridled experimentation he has in his locker, allowing it to slowly fade to the surface, capsizing like ships under unruly waves. Although it feels reductive to say this is an EP of two halves, a Doctor Jackal and Mr Hyde situation, it's true. It's this type of production variation that excites and creates a recording standard on its own.
Label: LíM (2026)
Piska Power - Life Piano Man
