|
|
|
OUTER SPACE (JOHN ELLIOTT)
Outer Space
ELECTRONIC
ARBOR
LP // £13.99
**Limited Clear Marbled Vinyl Edition from Emeralds/Imaginary Softwoods’ John Elliott** John Elliott of Emeralds presents another dazzling solo opus following the Imaginary Softwoods LP, pressed up on cloudy clear vinyl, housed in beautiful glossy sleeve and limited to 650 copies for the universe. With ‘Outer Space’ Elliott effectively continues the studies of mid 20th century electronic music composers such as Nik Pascal and Laurie Spiegel, translating the potential of pure electrical signal into a sublime meditational tool, converting electricity into acoustic pressure, attempting to find the melody of physics. He’s worked for three years on this album, eschewing the use of digital synthesizers and arpeggiation to sculpt analogue waves into an ocean of sound whose unfathomable depth couldn’t be achieved without this deeply personal method of practice. From an array of Arp Solus, Korg MS-10 and MS-20, Moog Voyager, Roland RS-101, and some assistance from Ralph Haussmann on Flame Talking Midi synth, their melancholy milky way plumes elicit intrepid moods for the astral wanderer, cast off into the almost violent darkness of ‘Quartz Synthesizer’ to arrive at the tranquility of ‘The Planck Era’ six tracks later, dazed yet revitalised. With the mastering from Keith Fullerton Whitman and filigree attention to artwork detail this is quite is quite the treat.. |
|
|
|
RAFAEL ANTON IRISARRI
The North Bend
DARK AMBIENT / DRONE / METAL
ROOM 40
LP // £11.99
*Limited edition vinyl pressing from Room 40, includes a download code redeemable directly from the label* It doesn’t get any easier writing about dark-ambient music, and certainly there are only so many adjectives you can usefully throw around the place to describe the music at hand. Often in this genre, what separates the good from the mediocre, and in turn the great from the good, tends to be something intangible that resides within the atmosphere a piece conjures, and (speaking from first-hand experience) trying to verbalise just what that is can often make you sound like a bit of a divvy. Having said all that, Rafael Anton Irisarri’s music is rich in imagery, and like Wolfgang Voigt’s corpus as Gas it seems to paint a synthesized portrait of a particular place and time without getting too directly involved in it, in the more documentary style of Chris Watson and the like. During The North Bend you’ll hear sounds that draw you into natural landscapes, but also muffled micro-melodies and huge, immersive sonic vistas fashioned from gusty electronic plumage. The standard and scope of production places Irisarri within the upper crust of artists in his field, and as with his work as The Sight Below the well-rounded depth of his sound will keep you returning time and time again. From the anthemic, looped fanfare of ‘Traces’ to the intoxicating, balmy orchestrations of ‘Blue Tomorrows’, every corner of this album brims not only with artistry and accomplishment but also a stealthy emotive grandeur that holds your attention for long after the record has finished. So yes, it’s a struggle to convey the sense of what this music is without getting a little bit wishy-washy or sentimental, but The North Bend is without doubt one of the more worthy albums of its kind and deserving of your full and immediate attention. Highly Recommended. |
|
|
|
E.M.A.K. (ELECTRONISCHE MUSIK AUS KOLN)
A Synthetic History Of E.M.A.K. 1982-88
SOUNDTRACKS / LIBRARY / EARLY ELECTRONIC
Soul Jazz
CD // £11.99
Soul Jazz present a vital and timely compilation of the E.M.A.K. (Elektronische Musik Aus: Koeln) collective on their specialized Universal Sound imprint. ‘A Synthetic History of E.M.A.K.’ collects the three releases made by four producers, Matthias Becker, Michael Filz, Kurt Mill and Klaus Stühlen, operating from the Originalton West studio in Cologne; an 8-track recording space located in the basement of a record shop only 200m from Holger Czukay’s studio. However, their proximity to such an influential musician had little or no effect upon their individual take on synthesizer music. They were obviously aware of Kraftwerk, Eno, Human League and co, yet impressively sound unlike any of them, putting their machines to task on a wide array of experiments straddling pop craft, kosmische, and dance music in the gap between first wave ’70s experimentalists such as Kraftwerk and Conrad Schnitzler, and the later electronic punk of Einstürzende Neubauten and DAF. In many ways they also paralleled the post-punk DIY scene with their modest budgets inspiring innovative recording techniques and the fact they pressed and self-released all their own music, but again they couldn’t really be called a part of that scene as their music genuinely didn’t adhere to any of the prevailing stylistic trends. The first two releases, EMAK 1 & 2, were recorded pre-midi, and appear here in the form of the dramatic ‘Filmmusik’ which would become a local dance hit, plus the wobbly , warm abstractions of ‘Biela’ and the glistening euphoria of ‘Tanz Der Vampire’ with its strange, skanking, mid-section. Later on, the tracks from EMAK 3 would feature Midi and sampling, notably in the spooky sequences of ‘Sein Und Schein’ and the glorious, arcing ambience of ‘Traumreise’. As this compilation proves, these musicians made a unique, captivating sound which has largely been dubbed over in the history books but provides a crucial connection between two phases of German electronic music. For those scouring the outskirts of original Kosmische, New Age and ambient music, this album is nothing short of a revelation. Highly Recommended. |
|
|
|
SENKING
Pong
ELECTRONIC
Raster Noton
CD // £14.99
Jens Massel aka Senking is responsible for one of our very favourite electronic albums of the last decade with his ‘List’ LP for Raster Noton. His music takes the dramatic spirit of classic John Carpenter and Badalamenti themes and updates it with advanced, ultra-modern studio production in order to elucidate his occluded atmospheres. With a deeply personal touch he conjures expansive synematic moods on ‘Pong’, often tainted with a sinister, midnight jazz appeal and always sculpted from the sort of tactile, synthesized wave shapes and tones your ears simply can’t wait to grasp and fondle like a precious substance. If anything this album is more subdued and tentatively melancholy than its predecessor, strongly reminding of Bohren And Der Club Of Gore on centrepiece ‘Low Flow’ and in the bunkered feel of ‘Luma’, but the rhythms also shadow the foreground too, offering distant, Teutonic cousins of dubstep with the brooding bulk of ‘Painbug In My Eye’, the Shackleton-esque ‘Mimi’ and ‘Death By Drowning’, which sounds like Jamie Vex’d’s darkest nightmares. For the real sound design freaks, cuts such as ‘Breathing Trouble’ should give you palpitations over a capable stereo setup and the quaking subs of ‘V8’ are primed to deploy on your Volvo estate rig, once the kids are dropped off at school. So, maybe imagine Bohren… jamming with Shackleton, John Carpenter and Alva Noto, and you’re in the right zone. Highly recommended. |
|
|
|
NICO MUHLY
I Drink The Air Before Me
HOME LISTENING / MODERN CLASSICAL / AMBIENT
DECA / BEDROOM COMMUNITY
CD // £12.99
Composer and arranger Nico Muhly returns with a new solo album jointly released by his old pals at the Icelandic Bedroom Community label and Decca Classics. The past five years or so have seen Muhly collaborating with the likes of Bjork, Grizzly Bear, Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, Jonsi, Antony & The Johnsons and Philip Glass gaining a formidable reputation on the international stage as a composerr in his own right. There’s an opera in the pipeline too (set to premiere with the English National Opera in 2011), but in the meantime we have two new Nico Muhly compact disc recordings to contend with. One of these is A Good Understanding, with the Los Angeles Master Chorale, the other is I Drink The Air Before Me, a score for the Stephen Petronio dance piece of the same name. In his liner notes, Muhly speaks of this music’s relationship with the weather, and how he intended the various instruments to take on their own characters: “I wanted the ensemble to be a little quirky community of people living by the edge of the sea: a busybody flute, a wise viola, and the masculine, workmanlike bassoon, trombone and upright bass. The piano acts as an agitator, an unwelcome visitor, bearing with it aggressive electronic noises and rhythmic interruptions.” In terms of creative ambition and all-round mastery of his art, Muhly’s music is leagues above the vast majority of contemporary indie-classical artists. There’s no room for schmaltz or string ensemble tearjerking here; I Drank The Air Before Me engages with far more challenging and modernist concerns. Many of the classical recordings that come our way tend to be derived from dance pieces, yet this is one of the relatively few to truly engage with rhythm in a fresh and visceral manner. With the interlocking, overlapping intricacy of ‘Music Under Pressure 1 – Flute’ and the panicked, clashing polyrhythms of ‘First Storm’ Muhly plots a complex course, yet he still makes room for reflective tones when te time comes: the commanding, stop-start horn swells of ‘Music For Boys’ prove to be more elegantly melodic, while the bookending pieces (‘Fire Down Below’ and ‘One Day Tells Its Tale To Another’) make good use of a very melancholy sounding children’s choir. A hugely rewarding album that’s surely set to be one of the finest modern classical releases of 2010. |
|
|
|
GONZALES
Solo Piano (Deluxe Edition)
HOME LISTENING / MODERN CLASSICAL / AMBIENT
Gentle Threat
CD + DVD // £9.99
A very fine double-disc reissue of Gonzales’ much beloved 2004 album Solo Piano, bolstering the original audio disc with a healthy supply of video content. The DVD’s main feature, Major To Minor is a piano lesson played out as a comedic variety show, including contributions from Feist and, allegedly, someone from Daft Punk in robot guise. If Solo Piano captures Gonzales at his finest as a musician, then perhaps this document finds him at his best as a performer. In this context, all the jokey, over-the-top energy that manifests itself on his non-Solo Piano recordings finds its natural home. Also included is a highly entertaining piano duel between Gonzales and pianist Jean-Francois Zygel, plus a great half-hour concert film, White Gloves, featuring performances of Solo Piano tracks and collaborations with Jamie Lidell, Mocky and Leslie Feist. For those who’ve not yet heard the Solo Piano album itself, here’s a perfect opportunity to find out what everyone raves about. It seemed to spearhead a trend in unaccompanied piano albums, but of all the releases of its ilk from around that time, Gonzales’ work remains by far the most enduring and memorable. Residing somewhere within the shaded area of the great classical/jazz Venn diagram, there’s something about the Canadian musician’s incredibly natural way with melody and phrasing that stamps these recordings with a genuine air of timelessness. The six years since its original release have only confirmed Solo Piano’s status as a modern classic, and this revamped, audio-visual reissue makes for a fittingly complete package. |
|
|
|