B.J. Nilsen - The Invisible City (Touch)

I have to admit that I'm mildly surprised by where my musical preferences are taking me these days. Until recently, I didn't really have much patience for drone and noise music. I found it intriguing but I couldn't really wrap my head around it. Now I find myself increasingly gravitating toward these more abstract forms of music, especially if they incorporate field recordings. There's something primordial about this music, as if it allows you to engage with some elementary force deep within. The sharp edges that I used to find grating are now so deeply satisfying. Am I hearing it differently? I don’t know. But I do know that for me, listening to music like B.J. Nilsen's seems to slow the passage of time. Gradually, the sounds combine to build a scene that remains constant over an extended period of time, giving you the time to peel away the surface and submerge yourself in the substance beneath. It really focuses the mind. It's what I imagine meditation must be like. B.J. Nilsen is one of the shining lights of the treasured Touch label roster and a luminary of electronic drones and field recordings. I just recently discovered his stunning last album, The Short Night (Touch, 2006), and his latest, The Invisible City, is another high water mark. Nilsen has traveled as far afield as Japan and Portugal for the source material for his field recordings and the track notes provide fascinating insight into the building blocks of Nilsen's compositions. Along with the electronics, acoustic instruments (Hildur Gudnaudottir makes another appearance on [pitch-regulated] viola) and processors he uses, Nilsen lists the recorded sound sources. And so, “amplified chair dragged across floor”, “window shutters”, “steel whistle coffeepot” and “birdsong” place their indelible mark on the opening track Gravity Station. A few minutes in, underneath a steady thick metallic drone and the hum of vibrating electrical lines, you can just barely make out what sounds like the weaving tones of a Middle Eastern flute – something you might hear off in the distance in a busy sun-drenched Arabian market. Or is it my imagination? Then, halfway through the almost 17 minute track, the chair and shutters lurch loudly and rudely across the sound field, heralding a rather menacing and doom-laden finale. A frantic chorus of birdsong whips things into a frenzy before the end comes with desperate bursts of twisted noise. What does it all mean? I don’t know. But on the whole, Nilsen's sound sculptures – which seems to me a more fitting description than “music” – are ominous. If they are indeed a representation of some aspect of city life, then it must be of an urban underbelly. Of dark things that lurk underneath the surface, like the high-pitched static squeals in Scientia that recall rats scurrying around the sewers beneath our cities. But more than anything, the music evokes industry and technology, from churning motors and machinery grinding to a halt in Phase and Amplitude to a burst of a fax transmission at the beginning of Virtual Resistance. Digital data snaking its way through the invisible passageways that lie behind the walls of our constructions. The ironic thing is that many of the field recordings originate in nature. Bumblebees, wasps, birdsong, flapping wings, crows, rain, footsteps on snow, “dead trees leaning against each other”. But they are usually manipulated and processed to such an extent that they are unrecognizable. Nevertheless, they bring life, depth and movement to a cold and hard backdrop constructed of wires and steel. And together these elements form remarkable sound sculptures that will undoubtedly stand the test of time.

- – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
Review prepared by Tigon for Headphone Commute.

See also Two and a Half Questions with B.J. Nilsen

myspace.com/bjnilsen | bjnilsen.com
touchmusic.org.uk

Vladislav Delay - Tummaa (Leaf)

Listening to Tummaa requires preparation. At least, it requires knowledge of the intent behind this album. Let me set the stage. The intent is 'darkness'. And this is its music. Tummaa reflects the mood recreated by Sasu Ripatti, composing under the moniker Vladislav Delay, while living on a remote island in the Baltic Sea during the time of year known as 'kaamos' (polar night). This is precisely the time from December to February, where there is only a few hours of light per day. This overall feeling of darkness made an enormous impression on Ripatti. The track titles alone construct the following message: Kuula (Kiitos) means Bullet (Thank You); Mustelmia means Bruises; Musta Planeetta - Black Planet; Toive - Wish; and finally Tunnelivisio (ok, can you guess that one?) - Tunnel Vision. Ripatti last made a sizable impression on me with his previous album, Whistleblower, released on his own label, Huume, in 2007. Now, back in Finland after seven years of living in Berlin, Ripatti returns with a few elements from his roots as a percussionist. The album may take more than a few listens for the followers of Vladislav Delay's to get into the groove. There is no dub on here. Instead, gentle piano riffs and Rhodes licks are interrupted with clicks, chirps and musique concrète snippets of sounds snatched from a variety of metallic and industrial sources. Even a deep rumbling sigh becomes a bass here. This is Ripatti's return to the source of acoustic and organic. “I wanted to take a new direction with Vladislav Delay, with more acoustic sound sources,” he explains. “I avoided as much electronics as possible, wanting to bring myself closer to my background as a drummer and percussionist. [...] I just love hitting things... making sounds physically without needing a power plug.” The album incorporates some abstract and jazzy improvisation featuring a live trio – Lucio Capece on saxophone and clarinet, Craig Armstrong on the keys, and Ripatti on percussion. After intensive sample manipulation, some modulations remind me of descending spaceships from the 70s. Some sound a lot like circuit bending emissions. Some sounds are like nothing I've ever heard before (from an organic source). All of this is blended with the swirls of abstract effects, sporadic glitches and scattered ambiance, floating in a three dimensional stereo field. Through this dark and somber concoction, full of dread and isolation, we descend into Tummaa. I can imagine the overall recording to be a flashback to a bad psychedelic trip. At times groovy, hypnotic, and rough around the edges. The entire experience will keep your ears prickled up, and your eyes wide open. A serious juxtaposition of sounds even for a seasoned listener. Be sure to check out Ripatti's percussion work as a member of Moritz Von Oswald Trio (with Max Loderbauer and of course, Morritz von Oswald) on their latest release, Vertical Ascent (Honest Jon's Records, 2009), as well as his other works under aliases like Conoco, Luomo, Sistol, and Uusitalo. Oh, and don't forget his collaboration with Antye Greie as AGF/Delay and their 2009 release, Symptoms out on BPitch Control.

myspace.com/vladislavdelaymusic | vladislavdelay.com
myspace.com/theleaflabel | theleaflabel.com

Grischa Lichtenberger - ~Treibgut (Raster-Noton)

~Treibgut fits snuggly into the sonic world of Raster-Noton. For this EP, his first release for the label, Grischa Lichtenberger's primary sources are found sounds from the world around him, including the sound of a sliding tabletop, the noise of a radiator and the humming of a broken device. Apparently, the music reflects Lichtenberger's reflections on the landscape of the river Rhein. Which, frankly, comes as something of a surprise since nature is just about the last thing that the music evokes. The atmosphere is extremely industrial and manufactured. Like the music of label primus motor Alva Noto, Lichtenberger's work is all percussive. He takes his sound sources and manipulates and processes them, cuts them up and rearranges them into rhythmic structures. But while Noto's music is often quite refined and minimal, ~Treibgut is like a jackhammer and power drill got together and decided to form a band. Opening track, 0406_01_RS!, is like the cacophony of a factory – metal on metal, pistons pumping rhythmically, distorted bursts of steam, flying sparks from a welder’s blowtorch. With one exception, the tracks all bear similar names, rows of numbers and letters, like numbered incidents in a long line of laboratory experiments. Or products on an assembly line. There are no melodies in the conventional sense of the word or other discernible instruments at play. The drill effect that users of the Ableton Live's Beat Repeat are so familiar with is the defining sound throughout. It’s a mechanical world. The one exception is calipso, which appears to refer to the CALIPSO environmental satellite launched jointly in 2006 by NASA and CNES, the U.S. and French space programs, and which measures aerosols and clouds 24 hours a day. Appropriately, it features a slightly lighter touch and an unusual sounding guitar providing the sole instance of melodic content on the EP. But the power tools are back in full force on the closing track, 0106_13_lv_3 sand ausheben, which translates as "excavate sand" - an indication that there is more heavy lifting to come. The title ~Treibgut refers to the German proverbial Treibholz, describing a piece of wood floating in a river or the sea. "In this sense it expresses a relation to things: between the observer and the floating thing, which has obliterated its functionality, there is no immediate connection – there is a lack of unifying meaning. Of it, the observer always only sees aspects, while the thing, without him on its mind, drifts by." It'll probably take you a while to grasp the meaning of the concept. Meanwhile, it is best to let the power tools do their work... Recommended for all Raster-Noton fan, as well as Pan Sonic, SND, Hecker, and Atom™

myspace.com/grischalichtenberger | raster-noton.de

Lissom - Nest of Iterations (Dragon's Eye)

Descending down a steep slope, I slowly enter a cavern populated with dripping stalactites, swinging wind chimes, and wondering whispers. The dark atmosphere soaks up the humidity of a distant buzzing organism and spews it out through DSP filters and control voltage modulated synths. Through repetitive patterns, nested recursion, and looped iterations, Lissom experiments with data-structure-precise evolving soundscapes, that compile and burst into tiny binary sonic fragments, binding themselves to receptors in the membrane of the synapse. This purely ambient and atmospheric work is built on field recordings, acoustic sources, and synthesized sounds, all pulling me farther, deeper, and away from the perceived reality. In this cave I sit for hours, contemplating the harmony of the spheres and the dissonance of our souls. While the nature lives in agreement, the humanity is polluted by one unconscious thought: "I am not enough". With this exploration of sound, I descend to the most sacred base, where I am everything that I could ever be, one with being. Tana Sprague is an Oakland, CA based sound and video artist, releasing her debut album on Dragon's Eye Recordings under the Lissom moniker. Sprague's intention behind her work is indeed to "manipulate awareness of time, space, place, and scale." Her goal is accomplished through measured tones and hypnotic beatless rhythms. "Inspired by the elegant complexity of organic forms, she utilizes various electronic and digital devices to synthesize a similar enveloping intricacy". On Nest of Iterations, Sprague demonstrates her complete control of sound design, which she no doubt perfected through her studies in Interdisciplinary Computing and the Arts at the University of California. Nest of Iterations is an excellent addition to Yann Novak's collection of works on his Dragon's Eye Recordings label. Released as a 250 limited edition 5" CD-R, this work will surely become a sought after collector's item to those marveling in the works of Carsten Nicolai (Alva Noto), Taylor Dupree, Richard Chartier, and Evan Bartholomew. While browsing the label's catalog, don't forget to check out the work by Yann Novak, Marc Manning, Steve Peters, and previously reviewed Kamran Sadeghi.

myspace.com/01lissome | sensory-perception.net
myspace.com/dragonseyerecordings | dragonseyerecordings.com

Interbellum - Over All of Spain the Sky is Clear (FlingcoSoundSystem)

FlingcoSoundSystem is a relatively new Chicago based label spearheaded by Bruce Adams, who back in 1993 was one of the co-founders behind Kranky. OK, do I have your attention? Now settle down and keep listening. With this fourth label release, Over All of Spain the Sky is Clear, FSS is introducing us to Brendan Burke, aka Interbellum. On the album, we hear Burke behind the piano, while Fred Lonberg-Holm softly plays the cello. The tracks are recorded in their open ended form, following a minimal restraint digital and acoustic manipulation, with the help of applied mathematics and durational processing. I'd be lying if I said I really understood the mathematical formulations in this piece, but it is the end-result that's important here. And it speaks for itself. Fans of long form and improvisational modern classical pieces would be absolutely delighted to hear this duet. While none of the pieces overpower the mind with concrete melodical structure, the overall drifting experience is that of pure musical exploration. Throughout the album, the sound vibrates, travels, and floats in and out of our peripheral hearing, until the slightly audible voice becomes almost coherent, only to drown again in the harmony of bowed and struck strings, which flips between the major and minor scales, like a child laughing through the tears after a fall. This unobtrusive wondering through musical modes becomes especially apparent during the second track on the album, The Life and Death of Anne Zimmerman, which is over twenty minutes long. Add to that some distant crackling, echoed machine buzzing, and you've got yourself a requiem for the living. Interbellum [in its definition of the word], is a period of time between wars (World Wars I and II to be more specific). Perhaps such definition will explain the more somber mood of of this unfolding album, which, as with all other FSS releases, is meant to be listened to in one sitting, as a collection of sequenced tracks, making up a coherent album as a whole. Pick up this digital release from flingcosound.com available for download for only $5. Recommended if you like Richard Skelton, Machinefabriek and Sylvain Chauveau as well as some acoustic pieces by The World's End Girlfriend.

myspace.com/interbellumsound | flingcosound.com

Aidan Baker And Tim Hecker - Fantasma Parastasie (Alien8)

Toronto based Aidan Baker and Montreal based Tim Hecker pair up to deliver an abstract and experimental ambient piece on a Canadian Alien8 Recordings. Hecker is not a stranger to a noise-prominent label, having previously released Mirages (Alien8, 2004), and a re-issue of Radio Amor (Mille Plateaux, 2003). In addition, his ambient recordings have already graced quality labels like Force Inc, Staalplaat, Fat Cat and Kranky. This is, however, his very first collaboration. Baker, on the other hand, is known for his work with Leah Buckareff, together cooking up ambient drone metal under the Nadja moniker. Baker's discography is immense, and mostly consists of live improvised long pieces. His ability to churn out guitar heavy drone soundscapes can be overwhelming, but together, with Hecker's luscious synth work, they pull out a whole different beast. The overdriven guitars combined with hiss, crackle and static, vibrate feverishly across the frequency spectrum, occasionally revealing a hidden pattern, a loose structure, and a graceful melody. The paced slow-core riffs, rolling at a speed of a sleeping giant, are fed back into themselves and split through a harmonic meat grinder. All this is again mashed up, tweaked out, and faded in through a torrent of bit-crushed digitally violated audio waves that give your speakers (and ears) a massive workout. Fantasma Parastasie is a relaxing fatigue - it cradles you gently by screaming its head off. Thus, together, Backer and Hecker, define an oxymoron of ambient noise or shoegazer metal. This should be a special treat for those with a taste for Belong, Ben Frost, Fennesz, Jasper TX, and Lawrence English. Where as Baker has a bucket of upcoming albums, too many to fit in a paragraph (see my Two and a Half Questions with Aidan Baker for a full list), Hecker is scheduled to release his seventh studio album, An Imaginary Country, in March 2009 on Kranky.



myspace.com/aidanbakermusic  |  aidanbaker.org
myspace.com/rainbowbloodx  |  alien8recordings.com

Stephan Mathieu - Radioland (Die Schachtel)

I was sitting in the waiting room. Waiting. The only external factors affecting my senses were the parallel lines of the desks and the chairs, the subdued colors of the withered walls, and the music of Stephan Mathieu in my headphones. I looked over to the clock, and the hand stood still. I turned my head sideways, squinted, and waited. Finally the hand moved. One second has passed. Then the parallel lines began to move, the chairs rippled against the desks, and the colors of the walls bled onto the carpet. My presence smiled, exited the waiting room, and slammed shut the door. I snapped out of my trip, as the clock has jumped ahead one meager second. The music on Radioland has a tendency to spread through reality its invisible tentacles of sound and invade every frequency with its incredibly thick palette, turning inaudible noise into sound, into music, into white noise again. Radioland is Mathieu's fifth full length release. And here's the kicker - it has been 'exclusively based on real-time processed shortwave radio signals', down-casting the higher frequency wavelengths to an audible spectrum of the human ear. Radioland is a limited release on a Milan (Italy) based Die Schachtel label. It is shipped on a transparent disk, Plexiglas body, with a clear acetate multi-fold cover, and appears to be already sold out on Boomkat. German born Stephan Mathieu, has been working with digital and analog processing techniques for more than a decade. His work is well known with an extensive discography concentrating on experimentation with sound, audio installations, and unique live performances. Mathieu's previous full length studio release was The Sad Mac (Vectors, 2004), followed by a collaboration with Janek Schaefer on Hidden Name (Crónica, 2006), and a single half-hour long recording of Radioland which was released by TouchRadio mp3 podcast series (Touch, 2006). The album is a highly recommended headphone experience, available as a digital FLAC download, if you can not get your hands on a limited hard copy. One thing for sure - this isn't drone music. It's macroscopic sounds fusing together into a grandiose orchestra. Another favorite of 2008.

myspace.com/stephanmathieu | bitsteam.de
die-schachtel.com

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

Fennesz - Black Sea (Touch)

Here comes Fennesz, with his highly anticipated fourth studio album on Touch. Christian Fennesz is a prolific Vienna based composer who has been crafting electronic multi-layered laptop compositions with an aid of his guitar since the late 90s. Or is it the other way around? His guitar driven pieces with a heavy dose of DSP? Either way, Fennesz has developed that instantly recognizable and many times imitated sound. His vast discography extends through numerous EPs, remixes, soundtracks and collaborations, most notable of which is his work with Ryuichi Sakamoto on Cendre (Touch, 2007); as well as Cloud (Erstwhile, 2005) on which he worked with Keith Rowe, Toshimaru Nakamura and Oren Ambarchi. With a collection of works approaching the count of 30, Fennesz's last solo studio release was four years ago, Venice (Touch, 2004). So it should be no surprise that the fans jumped in anticipation to grab this 2008 release, Black Sea. And I hope the fans are not disappointed. Fennesz picks up where he left off with Venice, building on his trademark of processed and filtered guitar sound. Faint melodies cut with their pale beauty through a sharp fuzzy white haze. Sure, it may sound like over-driven, bit-crushing, pixel-offsetting, standing noise you have heard before on another album. But let me remind you once more, that Fennesz has been pioneering this sound well before the advancement of software and saturation of costly plugins on the market. On a nine-and-a-half minute track called Glide, for example, Fennesz is joined by Rosy Parlane [check out his albums Iris (Touch, 2004) and Jessamine (Touch, 2006)], to build up an incredible swell of sound, that buzzes to an orchestral crescendo, until it breaks into a tidal wave of near silence, which washes off the coast of a Black Sea. Experience Fennesz if artists like Alva Noto, Philip Jeck, Jan Jelinek, and Oren Ambarchi are on your radar. 

Also... Check out my previous review of Cendre and Two and a Half Questions with Christian Fennesz



myspace.com/fennesz | fennesz.com
touchshop.org | touchmusic.org.uk

Sylvain Chauveau - The Black Book Of Capitalism (Type)

This dusty selection of modern classical compositions originally released by Sylvain Chauveau in 2000 [and re-issued in 2002] is once again available on Type Records! This was Chauveau's debut album, originally titled in French as Le Livre Noir Du Capitalisme, and released on a Dijon (France) based experimental and ambient label, Noise Museum [which is now defunct]. This album has been long out of print, and I'll admit - since it never reached US, it totally fell off my radar. But thanks to Type, this remastered version [although still limited to only 400 copies] can be heard again! Throughout the years, Chauveau has experimented with sound applying self-imposed principles that amount to just these three: "to stay as close as possible to the abstract beauty of 'silence'; to make sure that each sound committed is absolutely necessary; to find [my] own roots within [my] cultural and personal history." Chauveau's collection of albums range from solo piano pieces to minimal experimental drones. For an interesting minimal exploration of fragmented sound check out the last five-track album, simply titled S. [Type, 2007]. Chauveau also has composed soundtracks for films by Sébastien Betbeder. The latest release, Nuage [Type, 2007] compiles music for two films, Les Mains D'Andréa, and of course, Nuage. But back to The Black Book Of Capitalism, which, incidentally, shares its title with a French book published in 1998, which is a collection of essays covering everything from African slave trade to the era of financial globalization. This original album is very much different from Chauveau's current experimental pieces. It is quiet the opposite, and one might say "full of sound". And immediately, one track after another, start to receive five star rating on my player, falling along the roster of my favorite works by Peter Broderick, Goldmund and Max Richter. Through the crackling grooves of a record the images of early European films flood the airwaves with ghost-like beautiful melodies that have only matured since their original birth. Music like his doesn't age. It is classic. Highly recommended!



myspace.com/atkinsonchauveau | sylvainchauveau.net
myspace.com/typerecordings | typerecords.com

Wurlitztraction - The Star Lit Numbers On Her Fingers (Enough)

Like a buzzing concoction of plaster molded jigsaw, the sound of this abstract and experimental album descends on a creaky base board of musique concrète and gets nailed with percussive staples. The man behind this sound effect rich "soundtrack for late nights/early mornings" is Chris Reid, who goes by the name of Wurlitztraction. Reid compiled his collection of field recordings and unused studio manipulations from the soundtrack pieces he was producing for short films and animations, and wrapped this into an composition, The Star Lit Numbers On Her Fingers. It soon began taking a shape of its own, complemented with rich sound design, glitching electro-acoustic beats and a gentle push towards a darker sonic side of rhythmic noise and experimental electronica. It seems that the patterns never repeat, the melodies never blossom, and the haphazard ticks reappear here and there in a schizophrenic mania of a constantly twitching mass of a dying brain. And Reid doesn't stop there. Here comes in a bass guitar, acoustic drums, and industrial hits with an occasional vibraphone, trip-hop beat and a jittery feedback. Overall it's pretty difficult to pinpoint the style behind Reid's music [and that's a good thing], which is why I hold on to describing tiny mementos throughout the album. The Star Lit Numbers On Her Fingers is Reid's second release on Portuguese net-label, Enough Records, and is available for download for free from the site and scene dot org (catalog number enrmp138). Reid has also previously released an album titled, Lucidity Cue, on the same label.

myspace.com/wurlitztraction | enoughrecords.scene.org

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

Sankt Otten - Wunden Gibt Es Immer Wieder (Hidden Shoal)

Hidden Shoal continues to impress. My first introduction to the label was with Wes Willenbring's debut, Somewhere Someone Else. With its 29th release, it is clear that this Australian label is in no doubt with us to output quality experimental ambient, post-rock, and shoegazing pop material from across the globe. Sankt Otten is Stephan Otten and Oliver Klemm, hailing from Osnabrueck, Germany, with two previous full length releases: Eine Kleine Traurigkeit on Eleganz Records, and Wir Koennen Ja Freunde Bleiben on Hidden Shoal. Don't try to translate the titles, just take in the music as is. Trust me. Wunden Gibt Es Immer Wieder, is the duo's third LP, in which they shed the Bristol's trip-hop influence, and move towards a cinematic territory. The instrumental ambiance of the album is lavishing, gorgeous, and inexplicably German [well, what's that supposed to mean?]. I guess some of those lightly distorted, sawtooth synth and guitar sounds gliding over thick and layered pads is what makes it "that German sound" for me - think Ulrich Schnauss, Klaus Schulze, and sometimes Pole. Read my Two and a Half Questions with Sankt Otten to see what they think about that. The percussion accompaniment is light and upbeat, diluting melancholic heaviness with an airy feeling. And the melodies... Ah, the melodies. The track, Der Groove Des Guten Gewissens, with its dramatic strings and high octave piano notes is a true cinematic experience - turn that up and walk around the city in the rain, and let me know if your eyes don't swell up with tears. Both Hidden Shoal releases are available and distributed through Tonevendor. Similar artists cloud includes Talk Talk, Ennio Morricone, Portishead, John Barry and Bohren & der Glub of Core.

myspace.com/sanktotten | sanktotten.de
myspace.com/hiddenshoal | music.hiddenshoal.com

Gescom - A1-D1 (Skam)

Gestalt Communications returns after four years of silence, with two 12"s on Skam. The same release is repackaged into a mini white album with a clear sticker announcing in Braille its abbreviated name. The rest is just bar code and catalog number. The six tracks contain chopped up, effed up, transposed and twisted samples from classics like the 1978 disco, Space Dust, by Galactic Force Band; the 1994 acid track Downfall by Armando; 1993 ambient piece by David Byrne and Brian Eno, Come With Us; and a Chicago house track, No Way Back, from 1986 by Adonis. As always, the true identity behind the Gescom collective remain unknown, and we can only guess at the names of the usual suspects. Of course, Skam does not shed any light on the obscured artists either. What we can extract from this release is that it's as dirty, mental, and sick acid flashback as we could possibly anticipate. Whether Sean Booth or Rob Brown were involved, we can only presume, but will never know. What we can be sure of, is that A1-D1 sounds nothing like the 2008 album by Autechre, Quaristice. Perhaps Russel Haswell or Rob Hall had another hand at this. But since Gescom (aka, friends of Autechre) is a project of almost twenty different people, the digging and guessing is a moot point. Ignore the mystery and enjoy the release if you like abstract IDM by the above mentioned names plus AFX, The Tuss, Lego Feet, Jega, Clark, and Mr. 76ix. And I really dig A1.

skam.co.uk | myspace.com/gescomskam

Autechre - Quaristice (Warp)

It's hard to believe that Sean Booth and Rob Brown have been experimenting with sound for over 16 years now, ever since their first release, Incunabula, on Warp Records. It is perhaps their unique programming approach to analog synths, custom Max/MSP patches, micro granular effects, and mathematical rhythms, that pushed the envelope of sound exploration to the common studio techniques of today. Can the UK duo continue and reinvent the sound? I'm on my fifth listen of Quaristice, Autechre's 9th album, and the definitive answer is: yes. The twenty tracks on a digital release which I snatched from bleep (including exclusive artwork for each track!), maintain the indisputably unique Autechre sound. The beats are still chopped, the sound waves decomposed, and the structure erratically twisted. But unlike Autechre's previous LP, Untilted, this 2008 release is warmer, less noisier, and at times even melodic (there are even strings buried deep in one of the tracks). The genre starts to glide closer to abstract and minimal ambient, with an occasional glitchy quality of other worldliness. If by some miracle this is your first Autechre experience, brace yourself for a unique and unforgettable experience, if you can hold on. For the rest of us, it's just a necessity for our complete anthology. Too bad that the special, limited to 1000 copies edition, with an additional CD and a photo-etched steel casing sold out within the first 12 hours of announcement.

myspace.com/myslb | myspace.com/warprecords

Loscil - Plume (Kranky)

Vancouver based Scott Morgan is a sound director within the video game industry. But that's his daytime job, and his contemporary ambient soundscapes constructed with looping oscillators (a similar function in Csound computer language is compounded to Loscil) don't have much in common with game music. In contrast, Morgan's fourth album Plume, on Chicago's Kranky Records, is a relaxing, atmospheric, and hypnotic trip unfolding layers of sound complimented by ethereal percussion, gentle xylophone taps, and strums of elbow guitar. For Morgan, the creation of music starts "with a harmonic root from which sounds [are] processed into a loose structure over which the live players could improvise". Each track within the album grows, transitions, and gradually develops into a piece bestowing a specific state of mind or a flashback to a concrete memory. A quote from Morgan's elaboration on a piece capturing the growth of family, if you will: " 'Charlie' was composed after seeing/hearing my daughter Sadie through ultrasound while she was still in the womb. The track was also partly composed as a womb-like sound experience for her to sleep to after she was born, hence the heart beats..." Recommended if you like his ambient label mates, Stars of the Lid, or other excellent artists in the modern classical genre, like Deaf Center, and Xela. Favorite track: Bellows.

myspace.com/loscil | myspace.com/krankyltd

Morgan Packard - Airships Fill The Sky (Anticipate Recordings)

In his micro minimal and abstract release on New York's Anticipate label, Morgan Packard, a classically trained musician, adds treatments of saxophone and accordion to straight flowing and experimental beats. Compared to releases by 12k label (Taylor Deupree comes to mind), Packard's album is full off organic pads, swirling ambient sweeps and glitchy samples. It is a perfect tool to cleanse one's palette between styles, and gently push the post-ambient listening trends towards the slow and minimal techno. I only have the digital version from iTunes, so I can not comment on the additional DVD which comes with the release, and includes "audio-visual sculptures" (with completely different music), stemming from live performances of Packard and visual artist, Joshue Ott. RIYL: Thomas Fehlmann, False, Pantha Du Prince. Favorite track: Waterbugs.

myspace.com/morganpackard