Boards of Canada - Geogaddi (Warp / Music70)

In 2002, the Scottish electronic music duo, Boards of Canada released their second commercial full length album on Warp Records, titled Geogaddi. I say, "commercial", because prior to being signed to Warp, brothers [yes, they _are_ brothers] Michael Sandison and Marcus Eoin Sandison have released several obscure EPs and albums on their own, Music70 imprint. These were mostly self-made cassette tapes, recorded for their friends and family, and are very rare and pretty much unavailable, with the exception of a few, which were later re-released. In 1995, Twoism attracted the attention of Sean Booth (Autechre) through a demo released on [that famous] IDM mailing list, and soon thereafter Hi Scores EP was released on Skam Records. In 1998, Warp picked the duo up with Music Has The Right To Children, and the rest, as we say, is history. On Geogaddi, BoC continues to play around with warped effects of stretched magnetic tape, light sprinkled beats, ghostly melodies and echoes of distant voices. The mood of Geogaddi is dark, melancholic, and at times nostalgic for the childhood, perhaps as a continuation of BoC's previous themes on Music Has the Right to Children. The sound of this electronic recording is very organic and warm, no doubt benefiting from BoC's use of analog equipment, acoustic instruments, and samples sourced from nature documentary films produced by the Canadian government agency, NFB - National Film Board of Canada. Sandison was quoted to say that Gogaddi is "a record for some sort of trial-by-fire, a claustrophobic, twisting journey that takes you into some pretty dark experiences before you reach the open air again." The 22 tracks on the album are a result of 400 different song fragments and 64 complete other songs, which were all trimmed, re-sampled and selected to be featured on a beautiful triple 12". The last record's side F (considered to be the 23rd track of pure silence), contains an etching in the vinyl of an image of a man, woman and two children. The artwork on the album consists of kaleidoscopic images of photographs of children created by the brothers themselves. We last heard from Board of Canada through their 6 track Trans Canada Highway EP, released on Warp in 2006. Today, the brothers continue to stay out of the spotlight, working away on more tunes featuring their original staple sound. Or at least we can hope that they are ;)



myspace.com/abeautifulplace | boardsofcanada.com
music70.com | bleep.com
myspace.com/warprecords | warprecords.com

Biosphere - Shenzhou (Touch)

Prior to doing a proper writeup on Geir Jenssen, I listened to all of his grandiose works. Twice. OK, maybe not all. Jenssen's discography does not only span albums under his most famous moniker, Biosphere. There is his debut album, The North Pole By Submarine (SSR, 1989) as Bleep; two volumes of The Fires of Ork in collaboration with Pete Namlook (Fax, 1993 & 2000); two releases with The Higher Intelligence Agency, Polar Sequences (Beyond, 1996) and Birmingham Frequencies (Headphone 2000); an album, Nordheim Transformed (Rune Grammofon, 1998), with Deathprod; and finally a collection of field recordings from Tibet, Cho Oyu (Ash International, 2006), under his real name. And that's just scratching the surface. However, after spending an entire week (!) revisiting Jenssen's contributions towards the evolution of ambient sound as we know it today, I settled picking Shenzhou for this writeup. That one, my friends, is a masterpiece. Shenzhou explores more than just dark atmospheres and loop based hypnotic soundscapes. Here Jenssen does something many musicians have tried to accomplish - use classical music as the main ingredient, but without being too overbearing, obvious, or just for its mere sake. In Shenzhou, Jenssen constructs haunting environmental passages based on orchestral works by Claude Debussy, La Mer (The Sea) and Jeux. During the beatless layers of lush pads, deep sonic bass, and dusty vinyl samples of strings and woodwinds, Jenssen builds on meditative templates inflicting a trance-like state for the mind relying on its pattern recognition capabilities. The subliminal waves of euphoria wash over the timeless expansion of sound throughout the universe of the void. The subtle contributions of Jenssen's own sound design only enhance Debussy's already melancholic impressionist approach. Purely genius. This work solidifies Biosphere's impact on ambient movement. Previously, Jennsen has been known to pioneer his own personal style - arctic ambient. The latter is thematically named for Jenssen's geographical and minimalist attributes. Born in Tromsø, a city in the Arctic Circle of Norway, Jenssen evoked the sense of isolation and arctic calm, more prominent in his earlier albums like Substrata (All Saints Records, 1997) and above mentioned Polar Sequences. But in Shenzhou the ice melts away into the ocean of sound. And with it we drift... and we drift... For a sensory deprived in-vacuum experience, pick up Biosphere's Autour de la Lune (Touch, 2004) [headphones with deep bass response recommended], as well as his latest, Dropsonde (Touch 2006). In 2007, Norwegian Beatservice Records, re-released the first three of Biosphere's albums - Microgravity, Patashnik, and Insomnia. Highly recommended for the likes of Gas, PanAmerican, Steve Roach, Robert Henke, Deaf Center and Murcof.



myspace.com/biosphereofficial | biosphere.no
touchmusic.org.uk

Nautilis - Are You An Axolotl (Planet Mu)

One day in a record shop, I saw a Planet Mu logo on a record with incomprehensible green reflection. Being a fan of pretty much everything Mike Paradinas puts out on his label, I grabbed the vinyl as one of those random finds. Back at home I played the record over and over. I was struck by its ingenuity of combining instrumental hip hop beats with jazzy breaks and glitchy elements of IDM. But it was the melodies and the intelligent micro rhythms that kept on ringing long after in my ears. Skyler McGlothlin's fun and confident approach to creating his first LP, Are You An Axolotl, is still refreshing and exciting to listen six years later [and not just once in a while]. Based out of Texas, McGlothlin followed up his critically acclaimed debut with a second full length, Sketches. In 2005, however, McGlothlin moved to Florida based Merck (RIP, sigh...), and produced more downtempo and instrumental hip hop, under Malcom Kipe alias. The two quick releases were Breakspiracy Theories and Lit. I thoroughly enjoyed both, but must admit that I dig his Nautilis sound a lot more. It's a bit tighter, DSP-driven, production that continuous to unravel new elements within each listen. Since Lit, however, McGlothlin has been silent. I attempt to catch up with Skyler to see what he's been up to, and if we'll hear from him again. And in case you were wondering, yes... I am ... actually... an axolotl.

myspace.com/nautilis | myspace.com/childrenofmu

Cujo - Adventures In Foam (Ninja Tune)

Before Amon Adonai Santos de Aravjo Tobin shortened his name to simply Amon Tobin, he released his debut album under Cujo alias (indeed borrowed from a Stephen King novel), on a small south London label, Ninebar Records. Soon after, Ninja Tune noticed the Brazilian born artist, and signed him in 1997 for his critically acclaimed Bricolage. The rest, as we say, is history. Covering Tobin's bio and discography is a lengthy task, so I'll leave the research up to you [and shame on you if don't know the artist already]. In 2002, Adventures In Foam was re-released on Ninja Tune, this time as a double CD, containing previously unreleased material. Here's a statement from the label: "[The] fact remains that "Adventures In Foam" was a really good record, one that deserved to be heard, so when Ninja were offered an opportunity to re-release it, they jumped at the chance. Not least, because a rather unscrupulous company in the States have been circulating a version of the record with a changed tracklist, different (and unapproved) cover art and mis-titled tracks". So this should settle it once and for all. If you first fell in love with Amon Tobin after hearing his Bricolage, full of jazz infused, Latin influenced downtempo and drum'n'bass breaks and broken beats, then you'll definitely enjoy another round of Tobin's signature sampling techniques. You'll even smile after recognizing familiar sounds and beats, later reused in his subsequent albums. Definitely still enjoyable after all these years, as a first or repeated listen. A must for collectors. Artist cloud includes DJ Food, Funki Porcini, Bonobo, Wagon Christ and The Herbaliser. Favorite unreleased track: The Brazilianaire.

myspace.com/tobinamon | amontobin.com
ninjatune.net

Harmonic 33 - Extraordinary People (Alphabet Zoo)

I know it’s important to keep up with evolution of sound, music, and genres, but why can’t I stop listening to Harmonic 33’s 2002 release, Extraordinary People? Did the common folk forget about the light, spacey, and spy-sexy trip-hop sound, or am I just not looking in all the right places? Even the group’s follow up album, Music For Film, Television And Radio Volume 1 on Warp Records did not satisfy my cravings for a similar sound. Out of fourteen tracks on this first full length Alphabet Zoo release, every single one is a standout! The label owner, Danny Breaks, even contributed a few cuts and scratches to the record with his turntablism skillz. The Harmonic 33 is Dave Brinkworth and Mark Pritchard, producing under various pseudonyms since the 90s. Brinkworth has previously contributed to Capio and the duo’s early drum’n’bass outlet, Use Of Weapons. Pritchard’s discography, on the other hand, is almost impossible to trace, with his numerous aliases and group collaborations, most notable among them with Thomas Middleton under Global Communication [note to self: revisit 76:14] and Jedi Knights. Although I can fully appreciate Pritchard’s latest gravitation towards a more Detroit influenced hip-hop sound with his Harmonic 313 moniker, I still turn back to Extraordinary People time and time again. This was one of the albums that made me want to write reviews almost six years ago, simply for the sake of spreading the music to everyone, thrusting with "here, hear!"

myspace.com/harmonic333 | reloadonline.com