Dr. Compressor is the alias of Swiss musician/producer Yvan Gessler, who contracted a virus in 2002 that resulted in a permanent ringing noise in his left ear. Since then, he has discovered that the condition is less noticeable when his ears are focused on something, particularly good music. As such, he has aimed to produce the ideal sound, one with “that big, warm, vintage, sweet yet powerful, good sound.” For him this involves heavy use of granular synthesis abilities, which can inspire evolution amidst a hypnotic pulsating bass via various warping, morphing or decomposing to the synth sound. His experimentation with electronics, tinkering with everything from tube saturation to compression, results in an unpredictable and oddly warm sound – where a seemingly nocturnal effect (faint keys, lush vocal sample pitch fluctuations, hypnotic drums) relays an enjoyable sense of knowing.
Gessler has an interesting take on his sound: “This is why I can say I’m not proud of my music, and I suck as a composer, but I’m proud of my sound. You know this is that Portishead’s debut album, Dummy in ’94, that made me buy my first sampler. Listen deeply to the sound of this album, never heard something like this at that time, I was really impressed. Actually it’s recorded with real instruments playing through vintage gear, and they achieved the pefect warm organic sound. So about 20 years later, I think I finally also created that perfect organic sound, but using just a computer, and that’s the point of the stuff I do (and distracting my ears by the way…)”
Stream the rest of the release below:
