Thomas Fehlmann - Gute Luft (Kompakt)

Thomas Fehlmann has long been a towering figure in electronic music. He was producer on The Orb’s Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld and executive producer for Sun Electric. He and Palais Schaumburg bandmate Moritz von Oswald (of Basic Channel fame) famously collaborated with Juan Atkins in the early nineties as 3MB. More recently he’s been producing solo work for Plug Research and Kompakt. Gute Luft is Fehlmann's original soundtrack from "24H BERLIN" - a 24 hour television event, billed as the world’s longest documentary. Eighty camera teams filmed Berliners over the course of a day. Fehlmann provided a portion of the score, which he reworked here into album format. The title translates to “Good Air”. My favorite tracks are the most rhythmic. Some of the more cinematic pieces strike me as too museum-y. To that end, I enjoy the deep bass and cascading textures of “Alles, Immer”. In fact, it reminds me of Moritz von Oswald Trio. “Wasser im Fluss” falls into a nice, breezy groove. Crisp chord changes contrast reverberating string notes. “Schwerelos” is similarly lively, with bouncy bass and the occasional airy harp glissando. On “Speeding”, Fehlmann’s music takes on a darker tone with muted, tapped percussion and long, droning chords. “In the Wind II” has a bassline that is almost electro, while flutes play what seem like traces of “Londonderry Air”. It’s better than my description would have you believe. “Soft Park” is funkier, but woefully short. Dubby chords splatter over deep bass and percussion snaps. “Permanent Touch”, “Von Oben,” and “Cityscape” are all upbeat, but they sink into the background for me. For a soundtrack, that’s probably not a bad thing. “Fluss im Wasser”, on the other hand, is one of my favorite tracks on the album. The bass is lush and dynamic. A guitar slides, beats pound, and the sun shines. “Berliner Luftikus” follows with a deep dub techno vibe, the sounds of falling rain, and a pretty four-note pattern played on bells. “Darkspark” is an immediate attention-grabber, with an orchestral palette of strings and horns. Two-note chords pulse and change. I wish Fehlmann had extended this over a full ten minutes or so. “Im Überblick” is another tune that is over way too soon. It morphs from dub techno to bass-heavy minimalism to ambiance. The album ends with panning white noise and decaying piano tones on “Scheiben”. Gute Luft is released by the Köln (Germany) based Kompakt, run and operated to Wolfgang Voigt. The label's recent output includes the 11th installment in the Total series featuring an excellent roster of artists, such as DJ Koze, The Field, Gus Gus, and of course Voigt and Fehlmann. There's also a 12" Gute Luft Remixe edition, with three tracks reworked by Soulphiction (Michel Baumann) and Move D.

- – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
Original review posted by Jacob Arnold on Gridface.
Republished with permission of the author.

myspace.com/thomasfehlmann | flowing.de
myspace.com/kompakt | kompakt.fm
24hberlin.de

Loscil - Endless Falls (Kranky)

It begins and ends with rain. But when the waterfalls subside, a picturesque landscape reveals itself through haze and fog. Vast fields of textural sound unfold beneath the soaring heights, with a slight pulse of bass vibrations, originating from the unexplored depths, and an echoing muffled synth line, dying in the cavernous emptiness of this landscape. With a microscopic nod to dub, Loscil weaves sonic parachutes that lift up beyond the clouds and slowly coast down to earth, only to have it curve beneath them, in an endless fall. Endless Falls is Scott Morgan's fifth full length album on Chicago's Kranky, not counting the digital freebie, Stases, released out by a net-label, One. Endless Falls also comes on the heels of Strathcona Variations digital EP, released by Ghostly International in October 2009. I was sure that the follow-up full length was going to be put out by Ghostly as well. But, alas, Morgan returns to Kranky, which has been the home for his last four albums, Triple Point (2001), Submers (2002), First Narrows (2004) and Plume (2006). Since Plume, Morgan has been busy developing his ambient soundscapes, complimenting looped drones with subliminal melodies and modulated bass. The intricately designed dense textures wrap one's unoccupied consciousness in melancholy, sadness and reflection. The mood fluctuates the listener from wakefulness to hypnotic dream states, crackling and clicking with stripped down rhythms and wet minor pads. On the last nine minute piece, "The Making Of Grief Point", Morgan features a long spoken word piece by Daniel Bejar (member of indie band, Destroyer, for which Morgan plays the drums and saxophone), delivered softly and deliberately, over a pulsing tone and walking synth notes through an unresolved chord. This is the first time Loscil brings vocals of any kind into his work. About this choice, Scott Morgan states: "The collaboration with Dan made us both incredibly nervous. Dan felt out of his element doing 'spoken word' but rose to the challenge. I felt self-conscious about changing the listening perspective from abstract, ambient music into foreground, conscious listening. The first time I heard Dan's voice recording I was terrified and was tempted to call the whole thing off. I listened to it a few more times and it completely grew on me. Now I can't imagine that piece without his performance. I love Dan's use of words, his vocal rhythms and the intimate intensity of his voice." Additional collaborators on the album include the return of Jason Zumpano on piano, Kim Koch on strings and Robert Sparks on bass recorder. Scott's four year old daughter, Sadie, is responsible for providing the cover art for the album, taken from the backseat of the family car. Check out an interview with the photographer on Loscil's Blog. Endless Falls is incredibly gorgeous, sublime and subtle yet precise. Recommended for fans of Pole and Gas, as well as Stars of the Lid, Christopher Bissonnette and Tim Hecker. "The answer to the making of grief point is picnic baskets filled with blood."

See also Two and a Half Questions with Loscil

myspace.com/loscil | loscil.ca
myspace.com/krankyltd | kranky.net

Lulu Rouge - Bless You (Music For Dreams)

When I posted the Headphone Commute's Best of 2008 list, I received a lot of emails that amounted to "You forgot Lulu Rouge!" What? Lulu who? Yes, I'm sure there was an album that I missed in 2008 (I missed hundreds of them). But with enough pokes in the same direction I was tempted to find out. And yes, I will admit: I did miss Lulu Rouge, because certainly this act belongs on HC's Best of 2008 list.  I've been playing this album for months now, and have rated each track at five stars, so it's only fair that I finally give it some proper coverage. How can I describe the dubbed out techno beats that thump their way into my brain and beg to be repeated? How about this: if you loved Trentemøller's The Last Resort (Poker Flat / Rough Trade, 2006), you will certainly fall in love with Lulu Rouge... Especially since Anders Trentemøller co-produced a few tracks on Bless You. Lulu Rouge is actually two friends: Thomas  Bertelsen (aka T.O.M and Tom Von Rosen) and Torsten Bo Jacobsen (aka Buda), who have been part of the Scandinavian electronic music scene for some time now.  Bertelsen, for example, has been Trentemøller's partner since the beginning stages of The Last Resort. So there's that important synergetic connection. If that doesn't pique your interest, here are some pretty adjectives for you. On Bless You, the Denmark-based duo blend a refreshing concoction of Basic Channel sound with playful rumbling bass sweeps, pulsating IDM elements, delayed dub chords, catchy organic instrumentations, and DSP heavy vocals with contributors like Mikael Simpson, Alice Carreri Pardeilhan, Tuco, and Scott Martingell aka MC Jabber. The stylistic classification ends up falling somewhere between deep minimal and dub downtempo, but one thing is for sure - it's a unique album that will keep you cozy throughout all your moments. Maybe it's time you explored the Scandinavian side of electronica? Highly recommended!

myspace.com/lulurougesoundsystem | lulurouge.com
myspace.com/musicfordreams | musicfordreams.dk 

2562 - Aerial (Tectonic)

Twenty-five sixty-two is not just a postcode in The Netherlands' Den Hague - it is also an alias of its resident who is a prolific producer of dubstep, techno, and broken beat atmospherics. Dave Huismans's first full length release on Tectonic under 2562 moniker is titled Aerial. Tectonic is the same label that previously brought you the 12-inchers from Pinch, Skream, and Cyrus. On Aerial, Huismans layers dubbed out minor chords on top of the blowing wind of white noise and deep sub-bass enriched syncopated beats. The rhythm bounces between a Detroit-meets-Berlin techno sound and reverb heavy dubstep, creating tunes geared more towards home listening then as the fillers on the dance floor [not that hearing these tracks booming on a loud sound system would be unappealing].With his own personal style, Aerial is more of an album then a compilation of singles. The tracks work well together, wrapped around the concept the same way Burial delivered the unmistakable sound of Untrue. One thing for sure - this isn't the sound of London. That is to say, that it seems to have more in common with minimal dub techno then the filthy bass ridden dubstep hooks. Both styles are excellent - just depends what you're in the mood for at the moment. And this very instant, I need to be chilled out and at the same time warmed up, keeping the evil grin away. At the end everything is just a matter of taste. And there's only one way for you to find out.For more music from Huismans, check out his two side projects: a few EPs on Subsolo Records as A Made Up Sound; and earlier released jazzy broken beat EPs on the Dutch Flyin' High Records under Dogdaze alias. Recommended if you want to hear dubstep with some Modern Love and Basic Channel feel.

myspace.com/2562dub
myspace.com/tectonicrecordings

Kaya Project - ... And So It Goes (Interchill)

The latest release from Kaya Project titled, ...And So It Goes, is full of spiritual and ethnic elements, multi-lingual vocals, and world infused beats. This is a third full length album from a collaborative duo of Sebastian James Taylor and Natasha Chamberlain. Incorporating digital production design with organic instruments, Taylor and Chamberlain create a beautiful downtempo album with elements of tribal rhythms and dusty dub grooves. This album is full of contributions from many artists, like Deepak Pandit on Indian violin, Susi Evans on clarinet, and excellent vocals by Irina Mikhailova. Some of the above artists have previously worked with Taylor under his other moniker, Hibernation, with the very latest release, Some Things Never Change (Aleph Zero, 2008). Taylor has always been a pretty busy guy. On the side, he manages to put out 12" breakbeat EPs on Sinister Recordings under his Digitalis alias. Meanwhile, some may recall his early psytrance work under Shakta moniker, with the last album being Feed The Flame (Dragonfly, 2004). In this latest work, Taylor and Chamberlain join forces once more, to display their wide artistic range through music that is at once relaxing, groovy, and earthbound. One can picture carefree belly-dancers performing around the fire, circled by musicians connected to their instruments with heart and soul. It is at once a feeling of happiness and unity with the one. Recommended for the likes of Asura, Tripswitch, Solar Fields and Entheogenic.

myspace.com/sebastiantaylor  |  interchill.com