[CD, Aperture]

cliffordandcalix is the duo of Mark Clifford and Chantal Passamonte. Both Warp artists, Clifford is best known as a founder member of Seefeel who have released records on Warp, Too Pure and Rephlex Records and who have recently reunited to record new material; Passamonte has released five albums for Warp Records in the guise of Mira Calix.

The pair have long been friends and, between 1999 and 2004, they occasionally got together to try out some musical ideas, committing them to a variety of now largely obsolete media such as DAT tapes, Zip disks and floppy disks with the intention of revisiting them for release at a later date. Busy schedules meant that they were unable to do any more work with what is essentially a set of works in progress. Andrea Parker heard the tracks and expressed an interest in releasing them in their unfinished state and the duo agreed.

Lost Foundling 1999-2004 features five tracks from 1999, all of which sit well as a collection of related tracks in their own right. Album opener “Someone Like Me”, “You and I” and the crashingly hypnotic “To Stay Changed Forever” are all undulating, slightly abrasive and static drenched, their dark qualities contrasted with Passamonte’s girlish half spoken vocal delivery that varies from unnerving to subtly seductive. “Mintle” is a short instrumental track that continues the theme and acts as an interlude between a brace of tracks from 2001 that close the album. The final track of the quintet, “Dream of You”, is a track of two halves; the first half features the distorted, slightly abrasive qualities of the other tracks from this period matched with Passamonte’s nursery rhyme style vocal mantra while the second half is smooth, rhythmic and entirely more relaxed with subtle dark undertones.

Embracing a different mood entirely is “Myrie”, a track from 2002 consisting of calming ambient tones and crisp rhythms with Passamonte’s voice slowed down and processed to the level of eerily spectral tones. A more disturbing prospect still 2004’s “Cket”; although only a short track it’s subtle electronic whirs and tiny sounds click and shuffle in the background as Passamonte’s processed, manipulated and ghostly voice becomes the centre of attention. The result is a wonderfully crafted track that is ultimately very eerie and quite unnerving.

Perhaps the most traditionally song-like track on the album is 2004’s “Beethaven” which sees Passamonte’s typically cool vocal matched with rolling ambient waves, occasional atmospheric bass strums and a discrete drone that slowly picks up towards the song’s close. Of the more rhythmic tracks, 2002’s “Pull It A Part 1” is dominated by slow deep bass tones while “He Promised It All” and “In Her Room” – both from 2001 – are relaxed tonal excursions backed by an obligatory buzzing electrical drone and Passamonte’s nonchalant and sometimes slightly out of tune vocal taking centre stage. The remaining tracks, “One 2 Far” (2001) and “Alkaline” (2000), see the former loop rolling processed bell-like tones with a layer of vinyl crackle and the latter combine a deep bassy drone with disembodied voices hidden deep within its fabric to form a tense air of expectant unease.

The fact that these tracks are in a raw format – a collection of demos, experiments or ideas – lends them a special quality. They have a certain lo-fi feeling as if they were recorded in one take, the idea being committed to tape/disc as it was intended with no post-production or fine-tuning. The impression this gives is one of two accomplished artists in their own right freely creating music and trying out ideas, being creative and generally experimenting with sound.

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars

Artists:
Mira Calix – www.miracalix.com
Mira Calix – www.myspace.com/you_could_feel_the_sky
Seefeel – www.myspace.com/seefeelmyspace

Label:
www.aperturerecords.net

Published by Igloo Magazine [August 29th 2010]

AMETSUB – The Nothings of the North
[CD, Mille Plateaux]

Mysterious Japanese artist Ametsub released Linear Cryptics, his debut album, for the Tokyo-based label Progressive Form in 2006. After releasing a split mini-album appropriately titled Jimanica x Ametsub in 2007, he released his sophomore album The Nothings of the North early in 2009 as a joint venture between Tokyo’s Progressive Form and Third Ear labels. The Nothings of the North has now been licensed to the revitalised German label Mille Plateaux for international release.

Having already gained a fan in the form of Japan’s Ryuichi Sakamoto, Ametsub continues to produce music that mixes experimental clicks and cuts techniques with gentle ambient textures and his own piano playing. Often taking short cut up snippets of sampled or recorded sound and rearranging them into a jittery, spluttering new structure, Ametsub’s music takes a mellow jazzy sound, dissembles it and then reconstructs it into something new. The smooth sounds are still there but his piano adds an air of tension and crisp metallic shards of electronic debris push it in a new experimental direction. Carefully arranging and looping fragments of piano, synth and voice into a strange new ambient glitch music for the electronic age, Ametsub’s music blips, bloops and clicks manically like it was created by machines. Occasionally increasing in urgency and tension with loud outbursts, The Nothings of the North generally errs on the side of ambient texture such as the building anxiety found in “Peaks Far Afield” or the serene cascading tones of “Time for Trees” which cleverly uses its crisp glitch tones as a percussive accompaniment. Gently swaying between cinematic tension and lush ambience interspersed with forays into creative experimentation, The Nothings of the North is an engaging trip into the world of glitchy electronics that draws on a wide range of musical influences throughout its duration.

KABUTOGANI :: Bektop
[CD, Mille Plateaux]

Almost as mysterious is French artist Jerome B recording under the pseudonym Kabutogani – the Japanese word for horseshoe crab – who releases Bektop, his fourth album since his debut in 2001. Although he remains relatively anonymous his music fits nicely into the clicks and cuts genre championed by the original Mille Plateaux label before its untimely demise. Now that it is back the label is revisiting the clicks and cuts sound to see how it has developed and Kabutogani is one of the artists chosen to represent that progression.

The difference in style between Kabutogani and Ametsub is almost immediate; his sound is deeper and more minimal but not devoid of rhythm or melody. Flicking between buzzing electronics and the tiniest of micro-sounds Bektop is a cleverly constructed balance of deep tonal rhythmic textures and microscopic melodic fragments. In some ways it is clinical and precise but in others it is cinematic, absorbing and addictively rhythmic. Nothing about its construction is harsh, noisy or loud, everything is carefully considered and constructed to be deep and intricate. Everything about this album is subtle; tracks such as “The Green Dome”, “SIGINT”, “Production Peripherals” and “Kuril Probe” heave with deep rhythmic bass tones yet “Book Gills” is more subdued and surprisingly poignant for this type of album. Elsewhere on the album he heads down an entirely more experimental path with dense and more abstract sound structures.

VARIOUS :: Clicks & Cuts 5 – Paradigm Shift
[2CD, Mille Plateaux]

Perhaps the most anticipated of the initial batch of releases from the newly resurrected Mille Plateaux label is the return of the genre defining Clicks & Cuts compilation series with a new installment entitled Clicks & Cuts 5: Paradigm Shift. This series, and particularly the first three landmark volumes, sees a welcome return of a musical form championed by the original label in the last few years before its demise. As the title suggests, the fifth volume in the series picks up where the previous one left off, revisiting the genre to see how it has moved on since the last compilation appeared in 2004.

Comprised of a collection of tracks from a plethora of newcomers, what quickly becomes apparent is that the clicks and cuts sound has developed in a number of (although perhaps only subtly) different directions since the previous volume with tracks representing the divergence in styles in the intervening time period. Ametsub and Kabutogani both contribute tracks from their respective new albums, both of which are being released (amongst others) to launch the new label.

Opening with Scattertape’s “Shelving a Tempered String” intro, the compilation begins with what can only be described, perhaps appropriately, as an orchestra tuning up fed through several digital effects filters accompanied by the stylised blip of a heart monitor. A bassy loop pulsates as digital interference buzzes and heaves around Aoki Takamasa’s “RN4-09” while Sifa Dias follows suit with “Eitec Aa”, adding sparkling melodies as glitchy atmospheric clicks whir discretely below. More orthodox is Loom’s catchy “Isolex 03” which features smooth breaks backed with echoed synth tones that give it a futuristic edge, the music alternating between crisp breaks and spacial ambience. Following in Loom’s footsteps is “Ecoli” by Marow who slowly builds on looped sounds to create a warm hypnotic resonance with a touch of tension and anxiety. Nicolaus follows the same path as Marow and Loom with “Inner” but tones the mood down still further to a low drone with gentle train-like rhythms edged with glitchy crackles. Klive takes Sifa Dias’ melodic tendencies with “Sweaty Psalms” and mangles them to create an experimental soundtrack soaked with nightmarish tension and edgy anxiety. Gultskra & Artikler’s “w” creates a similar air of unease with strange disorientating noises and creeping atmospheres although this time the mood is one of sinister dark ambience. Heading down a slightly different path to create a similar effect is Yu Miyashita with “Scrypt”; echoed bursts of bass toll ominously accompanied by jangly chimes as if calling from the beyond. Alinoe’s “Il (Outro)” is a short warm ambient track that provides a gentle ‘calm before the storm’ interlude before the sonic assault that is Iodsb’s “Eve”.

Moving on to the more experimental and abstract selection of tracks, “Object 02” by Wyatt Keusch starts proceedings with clinical rapid-fire beats, metallic rhythms and glitchy abstract tendencies. Kiyo’s “Bear in Warm-Noiz” takes smooth breaks with an underlying layer of subtle cinematic tension and adds some strange metallic melodies that distract from what had potential to be an intriguing track. Perhaps the most abstract track on the compilation is Iodsb’s “Eve” which is a noisy onslaught of increasingly abstract scattergun digital beats paired with stuttering glitchy madness. Rimacona’s “Messa” is perhaps the most unusual track on the compilation. It takes a foreign language female vocalist accompanied by piano and adds discrete glitch beats and metallic percussion to close the compilation. It is a surprise choice to end things with and probably not what most listeners will expect.

It is a welcome return for the Mille Plateaux label and they intend to make a splash with a slew of new releases hitting around the same time with more planned to follow. Not only is the label itself emerging phoenix-like from the ashes once more but there will be several new sub-labels launched to cater for various sub-genres in an attempt to theme releases to particular labels. The Ametsub and Kabutogani albums are a solid start and Clicks & Cuts 5 revisits a genre explored through the original compilation series and looks at how, or indeed if, it has evolved since.

A lot planning has gone into the re-launch of what was a consistently popular and respected label. Whether it will be able to return to its former glory in a radically changed music environment is yet to be seen. Some careful thought has gone in to the resurrection of Mille Plateaux and there is a lot of new music and a lot of new artists to explore before any of us will find the answer. They have made a good start and let’s hope they continue to build on it.

Ametsub – Rating: 7 out of 10 stars
Kabutogani – Rating: 8 out of 10 stars
Clicks & Cuts 5 – Rating: 8 out of 10 stars

Artists:
Ametsub – www.drizzlecat.org
Ametsub – www.myspace.com/ametsub3110
Kabutogani – www.kabutogani.info
Kabutogani – www.myspace.com/kabutogani

Label:
www.mille-plateaux.com
www.myspace.com/milleplateaux1

Published by Igloo Magazine [May 8th 2010]

Auto-Reverse is a low-priced label compilation with a difference; it features 17 tracks from the French label Boredom Product’s back-catalogue with each covered by a range of artists including their own bands Celluloide, Dekad and Foretaste alongside Komputer, Psyche, People Theatre and The Rorschach Garden amongst others. Most contributors choose to cover Celluloide tracks as they feature most prominently in label’s discography dating back to 2002.

In keeping with Boredom Product’s agenda, Auto-Reverse compiles a series of modern electronic covers with a distinct retro feel harking back to the classic 80’s synthpop/new wave sound. This isn’t however an attempt to replicate or resurrect that sound, these tracks draw on that influence but bring it up to date using new technology and mix it with modern electronic sensibilities.

Opening with a dancey synthpop stomp through “Incommunication” from Celluloide’s 2007 album Passion and Excitements by the UK’s Komputer, the compilation gets off to an energetic start despite a slightly unsteady vocal. That is followed by the unashamedly catchy Euro synthpop of Sista Mannen Pa Jorden’s take on “Two Fridays a Week” and Dekad’s typical retro-synth rework of “This Aching Kiss”, both from Celluloide’s 2004 album Words Once Said. Following a similar path stylistically except with a more modern electro twist and a softer female vocal are Celluloide who cover Dekad’s “Dive” from their 2008 album Confidential Tears.

Generally a mix of upbeat dance-oriented tracks, Auto-Reverse occasionally takes a more focused approach and produces something a little deeper and adventurous. French band Normograph, for example, tackle Foretaste’s “Discordance” from their 2005 album Beautiful Creatures that hints at Soft Cell vocally (particularly during the first half of the track) and 80s new wave synthpop musically mixed with a dash of guitar for good measure. Where it sticks to the typical energetic beat-driven retro-electronic theme Missing in Action’s cover of Celluloide’s “Translation of Love” from 2007’s Passion and Excitements album which harks back to a 70’s style Giorgio Moroder driving electro-disco beat with a chanteuse vocal not unlike Grace Jones at times that is all updated for the modern synthpop era. Foretaste’s cover of labelmate Dekad’s “Down Below” from 2008’s Confidential Tears album complete with seductive female vocal and their Pet Shop Boys-esque energetic disco electro-pop treatment is a particularly accomplished rework both vocally and musically.

Changing style a little are Neues Kombinat who tackle Celluloide’s 2006 EP Body Pop and take modern synthpop sensibilities and mix them with a nonchalant German vocal in typical 80s new wave style. Celluloide’s “I Missed You” from 2004’s Words Once Said album is covered by Even More who turn in a solid rework that resembles a European version of Susan Ann Sulley from Human League with a modern synthpop backing. Delivering the shortest track on the album at just under three and half minutes are The Rorschach Garden who take on “Those Things We Felt” from Celluloide’s 2004 album Words Once Said turning it in a crisp electronic track with a deliberately paced vocal and a synthpop backing that gradually builds layers as it progresses to deliver an accomplished re-version. Joy Electric’s cover of “People Like Me” from Celluloide’s 2006 EP Body Pop is initially slightly shaky vocally but soon finds its stride, in this case working quite well and fitting well with his song choice with its bouncy beat and chirpy melodies. Closing the album is a track from Celluloide’s 2002 album Naïve Heart fittingly entitled “It Needed an End” ably covered by File Not Found whose half spoken, half sung vocal fits the song wonderfully along with the edgy, crisp and slightly tense synth backing that draws from the Pet Shop Boys “West End Girls” to close the compilation in style.

On the whole, Auto-Reverse is quite an accomplished collection of tracks that follow an innovative concept not seen elsewhere. The idea of producing a label compilation comprised of cover versions is interesting and original with a number of strong tracks being contributed from Normograph, Missing in Action, Foretaste, Even More, The Rorschach Garden, Joy Electric and File Not Found. If modern synthpop with a distinct retro flavour is your thing, you could do a lot worse than check this out.

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars

Label:
www.boredomproduct.online.fr

Published by Connexion Bizarre [March 15th 2010]

Glaswegian Paul Daniels’ solo project Dissolved has appeared on various netlabels since 2003 and although he only really began regularly releasing material around 2005 he has since become increasingly prolific with his output.  He has released material on a range of formats from freely downloadable MP3 albums and EPs to small run cassette, CDR and CD releases on a wide range of labels and through his own website.  Symbiotic Colouration is a compilation of tracks, some new and some previously released on cassette, almost all of which have never been released on CD before.  Mastered at Metarc, the compilation is released as a very limited run CDR by Binkcrsh, a label perhaps better known for its free netlabel output than for its physical releases.

Often constructed around a gently drifting backdrop of ambient synth tones, Daniels’ music heads in one of two directions; it either explores sparkling ambience or breaks out into a precise rhythmic beat.  “Radiometric Dating” is the first of the tracks to head down the rhythmic route with very precise beats, crisp melodies and a discrete droning synth backdrop pulling everything together into a sort of melodic ambient techno glitch hybrid.  “Visions Are Faceless” which follows it is the opposite, full of gentle undulating tones that soar and roll with an air of introspective melancholy.  Somewhere between the two is “The Slow Eve” with its almost medieval theme, a consistent beat, inaudible whispers and a flood of melodic ambient tones.  “Leech in Magenta” returns to the style of “Radiometric Dating” but increases the intensity of the rhythms, setting them against a cinematic backdrop.  “Lattitudes” returns to a gentler dark ambient footing with undulating waves of flowing texture layered beneath gentle chiming melodies and deep bassy tones that combine to form a sense of deep introspection and intimate personal meaning.  “Loft Hider” continues the theme but is lighter and features climbing electric guitar which gives it a more positive air of optimism; a theme that follows through into “15 Liquid Diopters” but this time in a purely electronic manner that portrays a gently reflective mood.  Slightly edgier is “Take the Phantom” with its glowing spectral ambience, tense undulating tones and discrete fidgety rhythms.  “At 4AM It All Makes Sense” is based on almost orchestral tones that rise and fall with rolling grandeur under a snappy rhythm as the album nears its close.  Finally, to close the album, “Are They Falling Through” is a fragile piano piece that ends the collection on a sombre but graceful note.

Although Daniels’ music is often referred to as ‘dark ambient’ there is nothing particularly sinister about it, it is more emotional and introspective than it is dark or mysterious.  There are ‘dark’ elements within it but they are generally fairly subtle and implied rather than deliberate, focusing instead on surging layers of ambient texture and precise rhythms.

For a body of work spanning some seven years, Symbiotic Colouration shows a strong level of cohesion, the tracks sit together nicely and relate to each other well providing an excellent overview of the Dissolved sound and Daniels’ consistency in developing music that has steadily evolved but also retained its identity.

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars

Artist:
www.dissolvedamberrooms.com
www.myspace.com/dissolvedamberrooms

Label:
www.c67.org/binkcrsh

Published by Igloo Magazine [March 9th 2010]

In the opening days of 2010 Californian label n5MD released a free MP3 collection of tracks drawn from their forthcoming release schedule.  Released in conjunction with Bandcamp and exclusively available through the n5MD page on the Bandcamp website, MMX – the Roman numeral equivalent of 2010 – is the first in a series of label samplers to be released through the partnership.

Featuring one track from each of their upcoming releases for the year, MMX is a teaser of what to expect from their roster of new and long-standing artists, all of whom continue to develop their sound or introduce themselves to fans of the label.

Opening with the calming melodic tones of Near the Parenthesis’ “Not Here, Not Tonight” from the upcoming Music for the Forest Concourse album and the experimental acoustic pop of Ent’s “Welcome Stranger” – the title track of his 2009 album on Japan’s Preco Records now available in an n5MD version – MMX eases into things gently.  It is “Guns, Knives, Lemons” by Proem that changes the mood with precise electronics, elastic basslines, crisp beats and unsettling atmospheres; a deliciously dark track that immediately flags his forthcoming album as one to look out for.   MMX also provides the first glimpse of Icelandic electronic musician Jonas Thor Gudmundsson’s project Ruxpin in the form of “A Sunrise (and They Turned to Stones)” from the forthcoming album Where Do We Float From Here? which offers an intriguing blend of modern electronic genres skilfully mixed with a playful sense of mischief and an appreciation of experimental electronics.  Treating us to a deep experimental dub monster are Funckarma; “Daltz Fango”slowly grinds along mutating as it goes, building interacting layers, creeping cinematic atmospheres and weird electronic sounds criss-crossing and flying in from all angles.  A crazy but enthralling concoction of sounds that tingles the tastebuds for the forthcoming album from the Funcken brothers.

Another Electronic Musician (AEM) continues to explore the interaction of ambient atmospheres with melodic experimental electronics with “Fields and Axioms” from States of Space.  Flooding the senses with radiant ambient tones, gentle rhythms and melodic electronics AEM delivers another gorgeously mellow album drawing on many influences and combining them in his own unique way.  Another newcomer, Grecian born electro-acoustic artist Maria Papadomanolaki in the guise of Dalot, is introduced with a short track entitled “Above the Rooftops” which is similar to AEM in style but utilises crisper electronics and darker atmospheres.  Lights Out Asia’s “We Fit into Castles” is typically beautiful, serene and ethereal in its early stages.  Soaked in floating vocals, sparkling melodies and slow drifting textures it effortlessly floats along before briefly hinting at something sinister at the halfway point and introducing tumbling, glistening guitar-enhanced rhythmic ambience until its close where it again briefly hints at something darker before fading away completely.  subtractiveLAD’s “The Deep and Lovely Quiet” from Life at the End of the World is exactly as you might expect; a truly gorgeous ethereal ambient track that aches with deeply personal feeling and heartfelt emotion.

Wrapping things up is n5MD label owner Mike Cadoo’s own solo project Bitcrush with the title track of his forthcoming Of Embers album.  Picking up where subtractiveLAD left off, Cadoo brings his own brand of transcendent ambient texture, adding melodies and bassy guitar tones for added presence before heavier electric guitar flourishes and soaring electronics bring a sense of glorious optimism and radiant euphoria to the second half of the track.  On the strength of the last two tracks alone subtractiveLAD’s Life at the End of the World and Bitcrush’s Of Embers are two more essential purchases for this year.

Already available through n5MD and the usual outlets are the n5MD version of Welcome Stranger by Ent with bonus remixes by Kettel, Near the Parenthesis and Helios, States of Space by Another Electronic Musician and Life at the End of the World by subtractiveLAD.  Coming next are Of Embers by Bitcrush, Where Do We Float From Here? by label newcomer Ruxpin and Music for the Forest Concourse by Near the Parenthesis.

n5MD set a high standard in melodic experimental electronics right from its inception and on the strength of MMX that standard is set to continue throughout the year.

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars

Download:
n5md.bandcamp.com

Artists:
Near the Parenthesis – www.neartheparenthesis.com
Near the Parenthesis – www.myspace.com/neartheparenthesis
Ent – www.myspace.com/entjp
Proem – www.proemland.com
Ruxpin – www.myspace.com/jonasruxpin
Funckarma – www.funckarma.com
Another Electronic Musician – www.anotherelectronicmusician.com
Another Electronic Musician – www.myspace.com/anotherelectronicmusician
Dalot – www.voicesoundtext.com
Dalot – www.myspace.com/dalot
Lights Out Asia – www.lightsoutasia.com
Lights Out Asia – www.myspace.com/lightsoutasia
subtractiveLAD – www.subtractivelad.com
subtractiveLAD – www.myspace.com/sublad
Bitcrush – www.bitcrush.net
Bitcrush – www.myspace.com/haveyoulostyourway

Label:
www.n5md.com

Published by Igloo Magazine [March 3rd 2010]

Although he already had an impressive back catalogue of 12 inch singles to his name, 2007’s The Later After was Noel Wessels debut album and his first release as DJ Hidden for acclaimed German label Ad Noiseam. After the reception his debut received, the label has supported his follow-up album, The Words Below, by issuing a series of three 12 inch singles entitled The Words Below Limited Edition Vinyl Series Parts 1-3. Containing slightly different versions of tracks from the album, the first two singles hold three tracks each while the third contains two exclusive new remixes; “The Narrators” remixed by Wessels’ Outside Agency cohort Frank Nitzinsky and ‘DJ Hidden’s Other Side Remix’ of “The Devil’s Instant” by Wessels himself.

Ever prolific and still regularly releasing singles on a wide array of labels, Wessels has a lot to live up to following the widespread critical acclaim his debut album attracted. Taking two years to produce the follow-up, Wessels offers his refined mix of dark ambience and sharp manic drum ‘n’ bass rhythms that brought his debut so much praise. Describing The Later After as representing a person’s fears and doubts for their future Wessels consciously composed The Words Below as a continuation of the story, this time relating how the central character accepts their fate and enters the nightmare world they had feared in the first release. The album’s artwork hints at a whole other world hidden beneath our own, a ladder leading into the ground inviting us to enter if we dare, the implication being that something worse lurks below.

Setting the scene is “Prologue”, a tensely atmospheric track that feels as if it is on the verge of erupting into a crazy torrent of immense rhythmic mayhem but never quite gets there. Instead, it opens the album almost like the theme music to a science fiction movie with stark soundscapes, movements echoing in the darkness and a clock ominously ticking as time slips away and fate moves ever closer. This edgy, anxious tension runs throughout the album, often lurking in the background and occasionally stepping out of the shadows for short periods of time to provide brief respite as the central character begins their descent deeper into the world of their visions and further into madness.

No sooner than “Prologue” ends the senses are jolted with a sharp steady break that transforms into a torrent of hardcore beats that frantically collide as synth textures ebb in the form of “The Traveller”. “Drawn In” which follows it is generally calmer with crisp breaks permeated with an uneasy shifting textures and atmospheric melodies that give a feeling that everything is not as it seems and something dark is lurking behind a carefully created exterior. “A Different Yesterday” rhythmically pounds the senses while musing how we are a different person to yesterday, signifying a seminal change has occurred. “The Dreamer” mixes passages of intense frantic hardcore beats with gentle almost ambient serenity as though longing to return to a calmer more peaceful state of mind. These calmer although still dark tones are carried through into “The Narrator” which combines hard jabbing rhythms with haunting backdrop that hints at spectral voices and your imagination playing tricks on you by making you think something lurks in the shadows – or is it just your imagination?

A track of two halves, the first half of “No Notice” is full of atmospheric melodies, dark swirling ambience and muted voices echoing from the distance while the second half is a relentless onslaught of bass and beats hammering inside your head to confuse and disorientate whilst battling the darker atmospheres that continue to lurk in the background. At first “Cover Up” doesn’t seem sure whether to continue the chaotic rhythms or increase the tension and anxiety with ethereal voices and uneasy tones; in the end it combines the two with a slower, steadier beat and a gentle female voice calling the distance. An uneasy calm sets in before the creeping tones of “Broken Seconds” are punctuated with an ominous heartbeat-like rhythm and the inevitable crash as drum ‘n’ bass rhythms kick in, still punctuated with unsettled spells of dark cinematic melody and a drifting tonal backing. “The Devil’s Instant” has the hardest stabbing beat of all the tracks on the album, feeling as though it is tapping on your skull and won’t stop. Resplendent with a recurring string loop and spacious ambience, it briefly offers freedom as if floating freely in space before delivering a reminder of the dark reality being confronted towards it close. The ‘hidden’ track, “Epilogue”, closes the album in the same way it opened by returning to truly cinematic form with orchestral strings and horns providing thematic pointers enhanced with atmospheric piano and some synth tones for added presence. The inclusion of “Prologue” and “Epilogue” bookend The Words Below nicely being used almost like title music, the titles of the tracks themselves indicating that the story Wessels is telling is part of a bigger tale of which this is just another chapter.

The differences between the album tracks and the 12” versions for the first two singles are generally very subtle; “The Dreamers” has an edgier less minimal start with a more pronounced engine-like throb and a missing ‘can I dream’ sample while “The Traveller” has a long minimal introduction, building up to the immediate jolting break that opens the album version. The remaining four tracks on the first two singles appear to be the same as their album counterparts. Nitzinsky’s mix of “The Narrators” does away with the subtle ambient aspects of the track, replacing them with a metronome thudding beat and distorted drum ‘n’ bass rhythms backed with retro sci-fi laser sounds and an undulating synth tone. Wessels replaces the spacious ambience of the album version of “The Devil’s Instant” with a stark minimal backdrop and focuses on the hardest of drum ‘n’ bass beats executed with clinical precision, adding more samples and an indescribable squeaking sound expanding on the track’s theme. Of the two remixes, Wessel’s own rework is by far the more creative and interesting prospect.

Alternating between spells of anxious dark ambience and pounding drum ‘n’ bass and hardcore beats, The Words Below resembles the psychotic episodes of a spiral into madness; the punishing beats relentlessly pounding inside the main character’s head punctuated by brief spells of ominous unsettled calm fearfully waiting for the beat to return again and again. Add to that select samples that speak of changing forever from “A Different Yesterday” or the repeated phrase ‘it feels wrong’ from the track of the same name and everything is pointing towards a nightmarish underworld that our hero (or heroine) has been inevitably drawn into, probably against their will. But still, despite all this darkness and torment, there is some calm and some hope shining through in the quieter sections of music, buried somewhere there is still a desire to pull out of the shadows and into the light of normality and the world above once more. We’ll have to wait for Wessels to produce his next album to find out what happens next!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars

Artist:
www.djhidden.com
www.myspace.com/dj_hidden

Label:
www.adnoiseam.net

Published by Igloo Magazine [February 3rd 2010]

Rob Lioy is a 25 year old electronic musician from New York with an avid interest in all things cyberpunk.  So much so in fact that he named his musical project Access to Arasaka after an evil corporation in cyberpunk related card game Netrunner.  A big fan of art in its many forms and of visionaries such as esteemed American writer William Gibson and Russian film director Andrei Tarkovsky, Lioy has been composing music for the best part of the last 10 years.  Self-releasing several EPs (that are still available) through his own website and a an album and EP through net label Illphabetik, his debut release Oppidan – named after a building in his own as yet unfinished story set in Detroit in the future – is jointly released by the respected US label Tympanik Audio and Greek label Spectraliquid.

On first listen, Oppidan might not seem to be particularly new or innovative but there is something there that draws the attention and calls for repeated listens.  It is an indefinable quality that is difficult to pinpoint exactly but it is there.  Like Lioy’s many artistic, futuristic and sci-fi influences and interests, Oppidan seems to come from somewhere beyond the matrix, created and transmitted from the future by an unnamed cyber-technician.  That might as though it is taking things a bit far but Lioy’s music possesses that sort of quality; a precise, futuristic, hi-tech quality that makes it seem to come from some advanced alternate reality.

Created using traditional keyboards recorded to computer, Oppidan takes mellow tones and textures, adds ultra precise beats, glitchy splutters and other subtle but strange computerised sounds to produce something that could be described as Autechre’s calmer little brother.  Lioy brings an air of calm and structure where Autechre were often experimental and chaotic.  Similarities are inevitably drawn with the likes of Daniel Myer’s Haujobb and Mike Cadoo and Mike Wells’ Gridlock projects, both innovators of this style of music and while Lioy might not be pushing new boundaries with Access to Arasaka, what he is doing is subtly redefining the genre according to his own vision.  So cleverly in fact you won’t even realise it until you find yourself returning to the album for more listens. 

Rating: 9 out of 10 stars

Artist:
www.accesstoarasaka.com

Label:
www.tympanikaudio.com
www.spectraliquid.com

Published by Connexion Bizarre [February 2nd 2010]

Now with five albums and numerous remix and compilation credits to his name, Toronto-based electronic musician and visual artist Michael Morton – otherwise known as Displacer – has found a new home with US label Tympanik Audio.  Having released his first three albums between 2003 and 2006 on French label M-Tronic, Morton releases X Was Never Like This, his second album for Tympanik in as many years. 

Like The Witching Hour before it, X Was Never Like This is a combination of new tracks with a couple of collaborations and several remixes from an impressive line up of artists including Daniel Myer of Haujobb/Architect, Keef Baker, labelmates Lucidstatic, Marching Dynamics and Morton himself. 

Appearing in no less than three versions – an instrumental version and two vocal versions featuring the talents of Victoria Lloyd of Clair Voyant/HMB and Broken Fabiola respectively – “Elbows Bent at Right Angles” eases into the mood of the album, quickly building momentum from a gentle start to quickly build in pace, alternating between cascading euphoric beats and sparkling digital ambience.  The second version adds Victoria Lloyd’s vocals to the mix and places the track in an entirely new context.  Her slightly off-kilter processed vocals are seductive and give the track a dark ethereal quality that suits it perfectly.  The final version of “Elbows Bent at Right Angles” features the talents of Broken Fabiola whose vocals are processed in a similar way but with a dreamier and somewhat Daniel Myer-esque outcome.

The title track “X Was Never Like This…” features carefully chosen if slightly odd samples from various sources mixed with deep bassy tones, slow militaristic beats and hip-hop scratches that gradually increase in pace.  The first of the remixes is by Haujobb’s Daniel Myer and is disappointingly generic and unadventurous by his standards.  Famine’s rework is fairly true to the original but amps up the beats, distorting them a little, making them more frantic, harder and crisper.  Morton’s own remix of the track heads in the other direction, slowing the pace right down at the start and picking it up as it progresses until it practically self destructs by its close. 

“Never Compromise” starts out as a fairly relaxed ambient track but soon layers beats and guitar to create a hybrid retro electronic soundtrack mixed with Morton’s particular twist on things.  Mark Thibideau’s remix draws out the deep bassy elements and emphasises the retro keyboard line to inject a sense of urgency into the track without dispensing with the classic electronic feel of the original.  Even more ambient in nature is “Windmill” which builds from atmospheric organ-like tones from the start to reach a radiant crescendo before introducing a crashing martial beat whilst continues to flood the senses with melodies and cascades of sparkling tones.  Keef Baker strips “Windmill” right back to basics before unleashing a rush of deep bass guitar, sharp stabbing beats, gentle piano keys and fuzzy distortion that swings between sinister undertones and bright optimism.  Marching Dynamics dispenses with the sparkling ambience of Morton’s original and focuses on the dark rhythmic and melodic piano elements and transforming the track into a brilliantly emotive rework.

Victoria Lloyd again lends her vocal skills to “Junkie Boulevard”, a track that mixes her seductive ethereal style with Morton’s drum ‘n’ bass electronics, futuristic keys and bassy tones.  Partially processed and manipulated, Lloyd’s vocals are occasionally obscured and distorted as the pace slowly quickens, battling for attention with her vocals.  The remaining track on the album is Ludicstatic’s remix of “To Live, Love, Die or Kill…” from The Witching Hour.  They take the eerie breaks, creeping textures and subtle hip-hop rhythm of the original track, distort the beat, bring the dark atmospherics to the forefront and turn up the intensity level several notches, adding some grinding industrial elements and appropriately themed samples to the mix for added effect.

X Was Never Like This offers a small collection of new material and a selection of good quality remixes exploring different aspects of Morton’s original works.  His ability to mix classic and modern electronic sounds along with a myriad of elements drawn from a diverse range of different music styles gives Morton’s music complexity which in turn unveils new depth with further listening.  The addition of quality remixes from his Tympanik Audio labelmates, other recognisable names from various electronic music scenes and the vocal talents of Victoria Lloyd all help to build on Morton’s increasingly strong reputation.

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars

Artist:
www.dsplcr.com
www.myspace.com/displacer

Label:
www.tympanikaudio.com

Published by Connexion Bizarre [January 11th 2010]

Ninth Desert is the solo project of French artist Cyril Herry that was born out of the ashes of his previous solo project Lecanora in July 2005.  Released by the Japanese label Deserted Factory, Herry’s fifth solo album as Ninth Desert and second for Deserted Factory – the first being a collaborative release with Matériel Brouilleur – is limited to 150 hand-numbered copies.

Dark ambient and intensely atmospheric in design, Neyss is a series of tracks that would form the perfect soundtrack to a futuristic movie where the society has disintegrated and only a bleak wasteland exists or perhaps a science fiction film full of stark but beautiful lunar imagery masking a threat unseen deep within its confines.  Why these particular themes? Herry’s music is a mix of spacious ambience, subtle tones and echoed fragments of distorted electronic debris. He experiments with drones that subtly mutate and evolve over time, the overall effect being to create dark, expressive and atmospheric tension.  Opening with the three minute “X-Hi”, Neyss quickly builds from complete silence to a gentle layered drone, shrill and undulating like a windswept desert wasteland.  Ending abruptly, “Karn” picks up where it left off, adding the clattering sound of a moving train, the shrill tones now more grating and higher pitched than before, adding a sense of heightened urgency and anxiety. 

From “Tern” onwards however the mood shifts and becomes subtler, the mood is still dark and ominous but the drones and atmospheres are more muted, cinematic and carefully crafted.  Gently shifting tones as low rumbling drones unfold, expand and contract, slowly and deliberately painting a new picture of vast unforgiving open spaces harbouring hidden menace.  There is a further subtle shift in style from “Phos” onwards, this time gentler, more optimistic yet also more experimental.  Almost orchestral in places, “Phos” is still dark and intense but somehow less ominous in nature.  The mood continues into “a.w” which experiments with short bursts of echoed bassy electronic sound and sharper pitched tones giving the impression it has been recorded in a vast enclosed space such as a deserted factory (pun intended).  “Krann” is a hybrid of the two themes, still spacious and generally lighter in tone but with dark undertones creeping back in and invading the space as the track progresses.  “Stalker” is initially stylistically similar to “a.w” but with sharper, crisper sound bursts almost as though created from the crackle of live electricity punctuated by tiny residual echoes that dissolve into the distance.  At over 13 minutes, album closer “Tans” continues the theme but adds passages of grating high pitched tones, discrete rumbling drones and atmospheric ambient texture to create a single piece which draws from the previous tracks on the album and introduces new ideas at the same time.  The result is tense soundtrack full of gentle melancholy and the conclusion of the story told as a soundtrack through the last seven tracks.

Building scenes through a series of interrelated tracks, Neyss is an aural soundtrack to a story untold.  Each listener is given free reign to create their own back-story; use their imagination to build scenes to match the music as Neyss unfolds.  Herry provides the soundtrack with his music, at times deep, dark and unnerving and at others lighter and more optimistic with themes interwoven between tracks, slowly evolving and shifting as they progress.  The only real criticism of this album is that some of the earlier tracks finish very abruptly, disrupting the natural flow of the album. 

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars

Artist:
ninthdesert.free.fr

Label: 
www.desertedfactory.com

Published by Judas Kiss Magazine [October 31st 2009]

Ainos sees the debut of both Ninth Desert and Matériel Brouilleur on Japanese label Desert Factory and is released as a hand-numbered limited edition of just 150 CDR copies.  Ninth Desert is the solo project of French artist Cyril Herry formed in 2005 and has four previous albums under its belt, the fifth being Neyss released around the same time as this album.  Although he started using the name as far back as 2006, Jean-Francois Fanton’s project Matériel Brouilleur makes its debut with Ainos.

Based around low atmospheric dronescapes, Ainos concentrates on the subtleties of dark ambient music.  Deliberately minimal, each track heaves and rumbles its way along, almost metallic in tone, as if created by huge mechanical devices.  The drones are big and earth-shaking but low and discrete, just audible enough to have the desired effect but not dominant.  The constant low rumble is accompanied by equally large scale industrial buzz saw sounds that swing, circle and engulf.  While the drone is deep and dull, the circling, abrasive, metallic industrial scrapes and whirs are aggressive and threatening.  As the drone discretely shifts in the background and becomes more prominent it raises the tension level with it, bringing heightened anxiety and ever darker imagery.  “Sennassiom” for example could represent the descent of a massive flock of angry mechanical birds, darkening the sky with their sheer numbers.  “Seriel” initially calms things down but slowly reveals itself as its dark tones rise and fall, becoming increasingly agitated before calming once more and slowly disintegrating into silence by its close.  Clocking in at less than four minutes and changing the emphasis somewhat is “Maz Experience” with short heavy grinding tones, reversed synths and general demonic undertones, it is a short interlude of subtle nightmarish sounds and spectral groans building to a crescendo before suddenly dissipating.  Closing the album is the longest track of the five; the 19 minute “Depressive Western” is a lengthy track returning to the dark ambient soundscapes experienced earlier in the album.  As tones slowly undulate, they rise and fall with a gentle melancholy, still dark and uneasy but with a new sense of calm introspection.

Similar in style to Ninth Desert’s Neyss released by Deserted Factory around the same time, Ainos has a darker, more minimal atmosphere and a metallic theme running throughout.  The sound is generally big and expansive giving the impression of long empty enclosed spaces, sometimes hinting at sinister forces but generally focusing on mood and generating feelings of tension, anxiety or melancholy.  Overall, Ainos is a collection of drone-based dark ambient tracks that take their time to unravel, evolve and find their way. 

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars

Artist:
ninthdesert.free.fr

Label: 
www.desertedfactory.com

Published by Judas Kiss Magazine [October 31st 2009]