Proibito presents “For Those Of You Who Have Never (And Also Those Who Have)”, an album by Huerco S. Nine of the densest ambient and meditative music pieces since the dawn of music!! Sounds both extremely of this time, and of no time whatsoever. Monolithic and stark but extremely warm, intensely personal, and for every one in every which way.
In Æternam Vale, long the best-kept secret of the french synth punk scene, has been revealed many times now. This is about writing a new chapter of that 33+ years story, that begun in Lyon in 1983 as a band, whose leader Laurent Prot – an electronics pioneer and maniac – took over as a solo act since 1985. This new album explores another side of ‘IAV’, that echoes how Laurent sounds now – a ferocious take on techno, post-punk rhythmic elements and drone soundscapes, planted with unrestrained improvisation, and getting closure with a song time after time. This record is not a compilation of tracks that would stick to a particular time period or subgenre. On the contrary ; there is a definite common thread, that had been found while losing oneself in the intensity of his spectacular live performances lately. Being carried away by his drone improvisations and smothering bass bins, and hearing him play his music, both old and new, there is a singular feeling of both freedom and transcendence that emanates from his music. Some of his lives have lead audiences to become completely silent, and taken away by hypnosis, some other have caused a riot, leading the audience to ultimate excitement. IAV stands for a whole-hearted involvement in the making of his music, and despite the cold and electronic textures, there is a sense of intimacy that we’ve tried to reflect through the choice of the closing song “La Pluie”.
Haunting soundscapes w/ blend of vintage Electronics & retro-futuristic Techno Ambient from Convextion.
Almost a year after his last outing, London-based Vester Koza is making a welcome return to the fray with a new EP entitled OTR. Featuring four atmospheric cuts, for the first time it finds him step away from his own Maslo label to join Houndstooth. Fusing elements of dub, ambient and IDM into moody sound worlds with you right at the centre, he has a subtle but seductive touch that has always marked him out. An on-going interest in security, technology and privacy characterizes his work, as does a passion for the vintage and modern gear he uses when producing. All of that is evident here in his most cerebral and conceptual release yet.
Renormalon is a collaborative effort between Elena Sizova, Heinrich Mueller: music data and Dr Olga Karelkina: visual data + encoding. Its purpose technically is to visually and sonically communicate the renormalon physics principle. Each composition is separate component of the theory representing a particular phenomenon in the realm of quantum uncertainty. The observer is to be immersed conceptually and hopefully will experience discrete states of energy which is integral in atomic behavior.
Dekmantel presents Danny Wolfers a.k.a. Legowelt’s ambient project Occult Orientated Crime. It’s for the first time ever that this moniker of the prolific Dutchman will have a physical release. Wolfers: “The OOC sound is an accumulation of twenty years of musical training and research and what effect it has on the brain. Simply put it’s electronic ambient music, which is more advanced compared to the music I’m creating with my Smackos alias. OOC is deeper and more melodic, less loose and vague but perhaps more intense. It can bring the listener into a completely different state of mind, you can almost call it ritualistic neuroscience music.” The six tracks are recorded around the same time, using coherent recording techniques. “Let’s say I was in a flow, or something like that. But I rather think it’s the music itself that gives it a distinctive sound: the way the music was composed, the notes and the sound palette. I haven’t used any sharp sounds for example, but everything is very round so your brains will soak it up as something smooth.” Apart from the track ‘Just a Clown On Crack’, the release lacks kick drums. “Most or nearly all music from PC doesn’t have a beat because it is often unnecessary, it distracts from the melody or what should be processed in the mind of the listener. The melodies, sounds and structure itself are enough to bring the listener into a certain mindset: a beat there would almost sound cheap, tacky. ‘Just a Clown On Crack’ has a trip-/hip-hop feel to it and was craving for a beat. It’s also the last track of the album and, in a rather fluent way, brings the listener back to the misery and tragedy of the normal, everyday world. It’s like returning from the OCC dimension with a soft landing.”
Album debut from Inter Gritty. This island-hopping adventure takes us from the quirky depths of Ictis through the 303 workout of Stac Lee and the brutal pounding of Swona, to the lush electronics of Cijin. The Norrköping, Sweden-based producer has taken his sound one step further from his previous EPs and painted a bigger picture, covering an archipelago of sound that offers both rough seas, jagged cliffs and serene forests.
Andy Stott rarely gets it wrong. To date, he’s release a trio of fine full-lengths on Modern Love, each of which has arrived perfectly formed. It’s a similar story on fourth album Too Many Voices. Rich, spacious and melodious, it draws on both classic and contemporary sounds, channeling Yellow Magic Orchestra, James Blake, Boards Of Canada, Autechre and clap-happy drum machine funk, before twisting these varied inspirations into thrilling new shapes. For all the high-minded experimentalism, Stott’s greatest gift is an ability to create music that’s inspired and entertaining, achieving a balance between boundary-pushing and old-fashioned melodiousness. When he gets it right, as on Too Many Voices, few can really compete.
Known and admired for its rich and moody ambient and techno output, Field Records is presenting a brand new LP from Iori. His mesmerizing ambient excursions come under the title of Cold Radiance, and the album features eight tracks that suck you right into his world. Each track here is a long and absorbing affair that slowly unfolds and pulls you right into its grainy core. There are dark, texturally rich tracks that are full of menace as well as more heavenly, suspensory and angelic ambient offerings.
Debut album by Detroit producer Cinematic 74 a.k.a. Brooks Mosher, who is known for his excellent detroit / house productions on labels as Dolly and Other Heights. Though, his ambient recordings are less known till date, under the alias Cinematic 74, Brooks presents a collection of ambient works produced between 2003-2015. Nine spacious and tranquil cuts, connected to harmonies and moments of bliss. Still, a variety within the album is captured, ranging from darker, remarkable synth-washed soundcsapes to more melodious moods with emphatic rhythm forms.
Monochord are Vienna-based musicians Bernhard Hammer and Jakob Schneidewind, two thirds of Elektro Guzzi, though Monochord paints a different picture. Electroacoustic experiments and filmic elements define the music that develops instinctively yet irrevocably, a sense of forward motion setting them apart. Compositionally minimal, these tracks maximize their inherent potential all the way through to their logical and even illogical end. Referencing electronica, ambient, shoegaze and at times modern classical harmonics, Monochord builds and unbuilds in a slow heartbeat. Introspective and filmic, its quiet and non-confrontational nature makes Monochord move in the interzone between various spheres. Their music escapes definition and that is its truest definition. Its subtle pulse and evocative and drony feel invite and inspire.
The German producer Milton Bradley presents his full-length debut on his own Do Not Resist The Beat label. Bradley has been one of techno’s key names for much of the past decade. “Tragedy Of Truth” incloses in 10 tracks, the full range of Milton Bradley Techno sound: dark, Industrial leaning to 1990s style Acid.
The highly anticipated follow up to their 2013 Dream of the Walled City (OST) LP, Samo DJ and Max Stenerudh return with another far out record complete with backstory. Originally composed as an accompanying piece for artist Thomas Jeppe’s exhibition in Tehran, Iran the music contained on this release was originally pressed on extremely limited cdr’s given out for free at the exhibition. As it stands it would have been a crime to keep this music in the private sector, thus now we see an official release in long playing format here on L.I.E.S. Dream-like, full of drama, suspense and full of cinematic overtones, once again the duo of Samo and Max deliver beyond the full scope of psychedelic soundtrack madness.
Originally released by Legowelt’s Strange Life on a CD-r back in 2007, Mons Testaceum was the debut album from MinimalRome co-founder Heinrich Dressel and the onset of a trilogy dedicated to Monte Testaccio, an artificial mound in Rome composed almost entirely of ‘testae’, fragments of broken amphorae dating from the time of the Roman Empire. Notable for the prominent usage of Elka Synthex, a legendary Roman synthesizer, Mons Testaceum remains a wonderful curio of the Dressel discography and fans of the Italian’s work will delight at the chance to own it on vinyl thanks to MNQ!
One half of Genius Of Time, Alexander Berg makes his debut on Hivern as Dorisburg. Irrbloss features nearly an hour of Dorisburg new music. Eight cuts in which Berg unleashes several incarnations of his sound and delves into his most melodic and mystical facet. Tracks such as Irrbloss and Votiv exude a highly spiritual feeling, connecting the majesty of archaic folk music with state of the art electronic production. Gloson and Gripen, in contrast, are much more dancefloor oriented eorts, showing Berg’s most cerebral and somber side. Kassiopeia and Cirkla are two slices of sinuous cosmic techno that demonstrate once again Berg’s ability to blend evocative landscapes with club eciency. Finally, Insvept and Sagofabrik conde a more meditative and adventurous approach. In other words: a gripping journey with a kind of inspirational energy not easily found in today’s dance music.
In addition to his prolific output as Not Waving, London-dwelling Italian Alessio Natalizia has developed quite an interest in profiling the vast archive of music that surfaced from his motherland in the 1980s. After Strut tapped him to curate the Mutazione compilation back in 2013, Natalizia has taken to square his focus on more specific artists, with this Tapes retrospective following a similar profile of Daniele Ciulini last year. Selected Works 1982 – 1992 spans a decade of recordings from Tapes, aka brotherly pair Giancarlo and Roberto Drago whose style of industrial music absorbed the counter-cultural influence of William Burroughs or Throbbing Gristle, and the sci-fi dystopia of J.G. Ballard and John Foxx. The 21 tracks here will delight anyone with an interest in the obscure annals of European primitive electronics.
Continue reading “The Tapes – Selected Works 1982 – 1992 [ELP017]”
Picking up where he left off on his last long player ”Mirrors and Copulation” we hear an evolution in Haslam’s sound New York’s Gunnar Haslam appears on L.I.E.S. with his third lp for the label titled “Lebesgue Measures”. Picking up where he left off on his last long player “Mirrors and Copulation” we hear an evolution in his sound throughout the nine songs. Still there are the understated yet grooving acid lines next to carefully programmed drums and attention to surrounding detail which creates beautiful and balanced atmospheres. There is a brightness coupled with an underlying sullenness tapping into some sort of mystical and seemingly obscured narrative which moves through the entire record. Deep and immersive stuff to say the least.
Some 31 years after they were first conceived, the cuts that make up Anna Homler and Steve Moshier’s Breadwoman & Other Tales remain thoroughly odd, out-there and entertaining. During the duo’s mid-1980s collaboration, performance artist Homler channeled the spirit of a character she’d created called Breadwoman, delivering bizarre vocals – half sung, half spoken, in some kind of made-up dialect – she referred to as “divine speech”. These were worked into musical pieces by experimental composter Moshier, who utilized cheap drum machines, battered analogue synthesizers, and chamber music players to create hypnotic, otherworldly tracks that remain hugely charming. The story of their creation and performance, told in great detail in the accompanying liner notes, is also fascinating.
Italian DJ and producer Manuel Fogliata hasn’t released a lot of records over the last ten years, but the few he has put out have always been worth tracking down. Perhaps best known for his work alongside Donato Dozzy in creating the much sought-after Aquaplano records at the tail end of the last decade, Nuel’s solo outings have been just as consistent and just as impressive. Whether taking on metallic electro or syrupy, bass-heavy ambience, Nuel’s attention to detail and his keen ear for a groove has made each release something to treasure.
The Hipodrome Of Music 