does it look like i'm here? - emeralds (CD) release date: 5/2010 - available to download
Emeralds are John Elliott, Steve Hauschildt and Mark McGuire. "Does It Look Like I'm Here?" is the third official album by Emeralds (after "Solar Bridge" on Hanson, and the self-titled LP on their own Wagon and Gneiss Things imprints, as well as countless small edition tapes and CDRs on a host of labels) and once again it presents another radical new direction for this Cleveland trio.It sees the group moving from playing single oscillator analog synthesizers to really complex analog and analog/digital hybrid as well a great deal of guitar synthesizers, not to mention fine tuning their skills as brilliant tunesmiths. Simply put, the results are outstanding. Comprising of a number of tracks from their recent ultra limited 7" vinyl series on Wagon, as well new compositions exclusive to this release. This fine selection of tunes surpass anything they have achieved in their 5 year career. Perfect melodies intertwined with ripping sequences and a guitar sound that floats perfectly throughout. Although most tracks cover new ground in that they follow a shortened 'pop format', more long form cuts such as the towering "Genetic" and the title track will give fans of their earlier work something to grab onto, or totally let themselves go depending on the state of mind.Having spent all their lives in the relative isolation of Cleveland means their music has developed into a vital, stunning unique hybrid that may have not been able to blossom in more active urban centres. "Does It Look Like I'm Here?" heralds a turning point for all those involved and is perfect vivid soundtrack to emerge out of the recent harsh grey winter. Fresh, shiny and totally essential.Recorded July - August 2009 and January - March 2010 in Cleveland, Ohio.Mastered by James Plotikin.
rastakraut pasta - moebius & plank (CD) release date: 5/2010 * reissue * - available to download
Dieter Moebius and Conny Plank got to know each other through their work on Cluster’s 1971 album and remained close friends until Plank’s death in 1987. They made a congenial pair as musicians, as amply demonstrated by their brace of albums “Rastakraut Pasta” (1980) and “Material” (1981). On Rastakraut Pasta, drums, electric guitars and bass are the cornerstones of every track; they provide the framework to which Moebius adds fresh colour and life with his synthesizers. Thanks to the technical merits of Plank’s studio, the keyboards sound barely distinguishable from one another. No samples, strictly analogue from start to finish. Holger Czukay (Can) plays bass on three pieces and his consummate professionalism sees his virtuosity finely tuned to the concept of Moebius and Plank. Moebius has a predilection for surrealist cascades of noise, heard throughout the album, grotesque yet playful. An enigmatic form of pop music came into being on this LP, a breakneck, elegant mix of diverse elements: a touch of Krautrock, some avant-garde pop, new German electronica, even sporadic echoes of reggae. Moebius and Plank take up their place in a lengthy list of musicians and composers who, from roughly the end of the 1970s, gave up caring about which stylistic category their music might belong to, no longer looking upon experimentation as a strategy of reckless abandon, but as a perfectly normal course of action.
material - moebius & plank (EP) release date: 5/2010 * reissue * - available to download
Dieter Moebius and Conny Plank got to know each other through their work on Cluster’s 1971 album and remained close friends until Plank’s death in 1987. They made a congenial pair as musicians, as amply demonstrated by their brace of albums “Rastakraut Pasta” (1980) and “Material” (1981). On their second album Material, Moebius and Plank ventured far, far away from the double coordinates of the Harmonia world and pop music cosmos. Amazingly, they did not find themselves floating in space, but made an exemplary landing, avoiding getting caught between a rock and a hard place. “Material” saw them generate a form of genre-busting electronic music, more radical than anything one might have expected to come out of Germany, not even from the likes of Cluster or Harmonia. Having said that, one should add that the album is in no way a copy of the New Wave and industrial scenes that were enjoying such prominence at the time. “Material” is, in the best sense of the word, without style, that is to say, it cannot be aligned with any of the conventional styles available. Moebius and Plank take up their place in a lengthy list of musicians and composers who, from roughly the end of the 1970s, gave up caring about which stylistic category their music might belong to, no longer looking upon experimentation as a strategy of reckless abandon, but as a perfectly normal course of action.
the final corporation colonization of the unconsci - drome (CD) release date: 5/2010 * reissue * - available to download
Drome was Burnt Friedman´s first journey into Dub-Techno/Ambient music. With the Drome album The Final Corporate Colonization Of The Unconscious, he appeared on the radar of an international audience. First released on the German label Wigwam, it didn´t take long until Ninja Tune felt in love with the dubby, sample fueled, ambient grooves and licensed the record to the young UK label in 1993, shortly before Ninja Tune´s success with Funki Porcini´s Trip Hop album Hedphone Sex. The album was recorded in Kassel from 1991 until 1992, Burnt´s German hometown, on 8-track tape recorder and Atari computer. ...unsung masterpiece of aural narrative owing a debt to the German Hoerstueck tradition - a form of dreamlike radio play. (The Wire 1995)
listen to them fade ep - robot koch (EP) release date: 5/2010 - available to download
After last year`s release “Death Star Droid” Berlin stromtrooper Robot Koch kept himself busy. He finished off the new Jahcoozi album “Barefoot Wanderer” which is coming out on Bpitch Control this spring. Coinciding with the release of his “Death Star Droid Remix EP” (incl fresh mixes by Loops Haunt, Blue Daisy etc). Robot Koch was on tour in the USA and Mexico, stopping by in LA for a stunning gig at Low End Theory and finally settled down for 2 months in Mexcio City, where he found time to work on new material with his girlfriend and singer Grace.
'to be a place' ep - lawrence & federleicht (EP) release date: 5/2010 - available to download
FormResonance and 33rpm records present a full to the brim EP by Federleicht vs. Lawrence.A tribute to port cities in general and especially to Bremerhaven. Seaports are internal breakpoints for both Marc Bammann and Florian Schirmacher. An EP like a Sea chart. Their work has been recently honored by the Groove Magazine 03/10, as a “… wonderfully diverse world full of beauty …, proceeding into the different vegetation naturally intertwined.” Federleicht stand out in their own way. Marc and Florian know each other since 1996 and share a great enthusiasm for music beyond subgenres. They are even called sometimes in the same breath with their electronic grandfathers, like Autechre or Orbital. The Interpretation of Lawrence`s “A Place To Be” is an anchor for Federleicht and can be regarded as another important step in the process. We thank Liebe * Detail for friendly permission to publish Federleichts remix and are excited about what may come next ;)
crew missing - mini pops junior (EP) release date: 5/2010 - available to download
Mini Pops Junior is multi-instrumentalist Tobias Vethake and jazz saxophonist Jan Hupe. Avoiding sleazy easy listening elevator music style melodies and a “hey, check our chops!” attitude, Mini Pops Junior is the ultimate fusion of jazz and space rock. To Mini Pops Junior, jazz is about improvisation. Its about abandonment, letting go of everything, and exploration. Resembling at times a horror film soundtrack, the music touches more on punk than pop, more on experiment than cliché, but always has an emotional edge that keeps their audience interested.
barefoot wanderer remixes part 1 - jahcoozi (EP) release date: 5/2010 - available to download
Jahcoozi's current Album Barefoot Wanderer must surely rank amongst the biggest surprises of the year at this early stage. Whilst it plays masterfully with all genre expectations, it is nevertheless a prime example of coherence. In keeping with the album, unpredictability also features heavily on the first single release. It takes us by surprise with the album opener “Barefoot Dub” – where a dub beat and 4/4 kick are fused logically into a unique and danceable form – and the hysterically cheerful and adorable “Close To Me”, a song which is in fact about the not so cheerful topic of loving and longing for Heroin. A) Jahcoozi's highly unconventional interpretation of “Close To Me” is taken to another level of abstraction by Brazilian DJ/production duo and Minus family member Click Box, who also skilfully blend in elements of “Barefoot Dub”. The pair almost effortlessly pull off the feat of retaining the hysterically absurd mood of “Close To Me”, even though the sound of their remix, with its old-school electro beat and nervously flittering filters, is light years away from the original. B1) No less surprising to the ears is the extremely quirky dub-house-electronica blend of the antagonistic sound tinkerers Object Object / Raw Milk, who hail from the dubstep/grime epicentre of North London. Whilst the latter is still regarded by most in Germany as a blank slate, Object Object aka Mark Rutherford has already picked up remixer credits for Unkle and Yapacc in his previous incarnation as a member of Repeat Repeat. Their “Barefoot Dub” mix has an oppressively skewed feel. It's laden with a peculiar energy and most certainly not from this world! B2) Planet Mu hero Steve Milanese has put the brakes on his breakcore-heavy mash-ups. Here he appears in a relatively moderate mood and even surprises us with a song-like structure. His congenial “Close To Me” remix is even a trace closer to the original than the Jahcoozi edit. The focus is on the vocals and wonderfully cheesy sounds which once more – following his Planet Mu hit “Double Face” with the singer Kate Kestrel – demonstrate Milanese's talent of writing genuinely catchy songs. X) The digital track completes this extremely diverse remix package with an instrumental version of the Object Object / Raw Milk track “Barefoot Dub”. Identical except for the absent vocals, this version feels a touch lighter and more spacious.
unidentified musical subject - bernhard loibner (EP) release date: 5/2010 - available to download
With his new album "Unidentified Musical Subject" Bernhard Loibner fuses the world of experimental electronic music with the human directness of acoustic instruments. Strongly connected to the event-like aesthetics of contemporary experimental electronic music, Loibner manages to enrich the acoustic spectrum through the use of carefully treated instrumental elements. No sequencers or drum machines were used during the production process in order to reach a balanced sound impression - similar to human dynamics - shifting between ease and motion. The instrumental recordings were processed through self-built digital synthesis processes, which gives the album a certain glitchy flavor as well.
the opportune moment - kaisen (CD) release date: 4/2010 - available to download
'the opportune moment' is an awesome close-up displaying the collaboration of london based artist and producer dov waterman and nonine recordings' mastermind me raabenstein. together they harvest the fields of sound ranging from classical, eastern european and ambient-clone-classical, finely squeezing out the rich and opulent juices - generating into a cinematic and smilingly strong articulated example of work. (press release text)piano led abstraction, moving the listener through a gentle walk of moods and textures...robin rimbaud, scanner, uk
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flavour (1128 reviews)
ambient / electronica / avantgarde
