The eternal curiosity of the unknown, the desire to establish contact with extraterrestrial beings, distant and inaccessible civilisations, is what the abbreviation S.E.T.I. (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) stands for. The music of the project called S.E.T.I. may be described as a reflection of this yearning. Andrew Lagowski’s individual project has been active since the early 90s. Inspired by the early Human League, CDVA, and Cabaret Voltaire, Lagowski started playing music in secondary school, in acts including the electro post-punk project Silent Command. Further revelations of Andrew Lagowski’s work include the projects named Legion and Nagamatz. His most famous output, however, seems to be his collaboration with Brian Williams aka Lustmord. Their incidental joint projects have gone down in industrial history. While Terror Against Terror announced the fusion of industrial and techno, Isolrubin BK intrigued the listener with its themes and atmosphere. Both projects, closed as of today, are already considered to be modern classics today. As for further projects, Andrew Lagowski only contributed to them with his surname. In the early 1990s, his work contained elements of powerful techno, which the artist combined with sonic experimentation. After a series of experiences with club music, he focused on exploring deeper electronics. While the music he made in the 90s was sometimes clean and cheerful, it later gradually moved towards darker regions. Currently, S.E.T.I. is promoted in Power And Steel and the Loki Foundation from Leipzig, corresponding with other projects released under these banners. The productions may bring to mind images of abandoned mining installations and pipelines located in the far east of the former Soviet Union – areas of extensive exploitation of nature, places of ecological disasters, and areas of eternal contamination. S.E.T.I. is a musical search for the unknown – things beyond the rational and human cognition. [ws]
S.E.T.I. (UK)
