Released by Clogsontronics back in 1983, FOR THIS IS PAST was the first of the two albums released by Ensemble Pittoresque. After recording a couple of demo tapes the band formed by Richard Neumöller, Paulus Wieland and Ton Willekes (he was their producer/engineer and he's one of the guys who decided to revamp the Clogsontronic name on the new century) decided to release their first record by themselves. Recorded during the winter of 1982 at a squatted monumental building in Wassenaar called Huize Rijksdorp, FOR THIS IS PAST (the title is linked to Storung's album title "This is future") contains ten songs which blend the best intuitions of the minimal electro wave scene of that period. Using guitars as well as electronic instruments (synths and drum machine), the band recorded experimental electro tunes, new wave melodic songs and dark instrumental tracks. The thing that amazed me most is the quality of the recordings and the use of samples (see for example the semi industrial rhythmic percussive sounds on "Building brains" and on the closing "Reichsdorf room 6"). There's also space for a slow dark ballad ("Ash grey as Sunday") where melancholic vocals pairs acoustic guitar, piano and on the end a synth solo. By listening to this album you can realize how much Ensemble Pittoresque were inspired and if you want a suggestion, you won't miss this reissue that presents those recordings on a vinyl + CD edition (obviously the tracks are the same on both of them). Limited to 700 copies!

Visionary, experimental, magickal and evocative, the new work by Niko Skorpio HALF BORN IN HALF LIGHT is a blend of ritualistic scenarios and music experimentations. Spanning from the creepy hisses of the opening "{ monogram }" where the lyrics are invocation of the primal qualities of Self, Air of Water, to the following tense dark ambient spoken word with guitar and drums inserts of "Worm in the foundation" or the tribal experimental "Neither sphere", HALF BORN IN HALF LIGHT is the best label's release of the recent period (I haven't reviewed all their stuff but it's about a couple of years that I do). What impressed me most is the balanced sound mix and the crispness of sounds. This ability into giving the right space to sounds help a lot the creation of a functioning audio world where the listener is surrounded by hypnotic a semi psychedelic atmospheres.

Side project of the creator of As All Die, Clint Listing produces a particular music made of dark ambient atmospheres, slowed down jazzy intuitions and a bit of early 4AD style (see for example "Cut off your wings to enter heaven" where the melancholy calm/deep vocals are hidden between treated strings sounds). MY FATHER, MY KEEPER is a multi faceted album because if the first three tracks sound like a minimal mix of dark ambient synth pads with the add of a clarinet, the fore mentioned "Cut off your wings to enter heaven" and the following "The last day's of originality" (this one couple whispered vocals, clean electric guitars a la post rock with synth pads) change the style a bit but without changing the atmosphere which is always disturbed and intimate. Also the reverb synth experimentation of "One's loss of sanity", even if it sounds like of break into the atmosphere created since then, it isn't a total surprise, because just by listening to the first couple of tracks of the album you can realize that Clint Listing allows to himself an approach to music that is freed from boundaries. The last three tracks are reported as being part of "The Snow Ghost bonus EP". They span from the opening industrial ambient sounds of "Traveling the celestial path" to the creeping tubular bell sounds of "Simplicity is bliss" passing through the post rock drones of the long "The snow ghost".

Terrence Fixmer, a worldwide renowned Techno DJ and producer and the infamous voice of NITZER EBB, Douglas McCarthy have united once again to release another new album after their successful debut "Between The Devil" in 2004. Was the debut a kind of explosive and straight-forward moving mixture between EBM and Technoid sounds, this new album surprises with a unexpected and rather calm and melodic oriented sound outfit. I must say that Terrence does the best of his part, not to sound too much after some Techno-oriented patterns, the music here generally satisfy multiple tastes. More than this, the sound-wise orientation to include also more melodic elements lets him grow and it will strengthen his reputation. To Douglas McCarthy is nothing more to say than the fact: Yes, he’s in here and the magic of his raspy voice is with him. Even if you get the impression, that Terrence’s music would turn too much into the Futurepop/Electropop-genre ("Banging Down Your Door", "Tonight I Sleep"), Douglas is there and makes the difference to all those too often heard smooth and gay-like male vocals. Of course some upbeating tunes are included too ("Hate Me", "Love The Night", "Look To Me"), which all work well for the dancefloors. A quite good and interesting album, which has the best attitudes of both musicians included. Fans of the debut, especially those of the straight-oriented Rivethead-culture will may have problems to accept this smoother outfit, but who cares? The musically content of this fine work should be reward enough.

I'm so glad I received this CD. NINETEENEIGHTYFOUR is the fifth Jon Ryman album in fifteen years and shame on me, I didn't know him until now. He works as an electronic music producer since early nineties and his latest album is a blast. He succeeded into blending into these eleven songs (the first one is a 30" introduction) so many elements coming from 80's music in a great way that there's no song that is a filler. The atmospheres goes to songs a la Paul Haig ("Julia") to ones a la Karl Bartos ("Rhythm Machine") passing through Jean Michelle Jarre (the instrumental "Oneohone"), and John Foxx ("Overexposure"). The whole CD sounds fresh with great electronic sounds and good melodies and it catches the sounds and the themes of a period dear to many of us (see the Orwell reference of the title or the one to the Thatcher Falklands period you can read about into the inner sleeve notes) but thinking about it as a mere re-proposition of an era like it was a commercial move for sure is wrong. This CD takes inspiration from a decade of electronic music (maybe for this reason the CD closes with a 90's sounding acid techno track titled "Acid music"... because a kind of electronic music ended then with the born of a new genre) and inspire. Be sure to check it. This is the first release for Really Real and I hope that they will release more gems like this.