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02'01 |
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AROVANE
Tides (CCOCD001) City Centre Offices 2000 09 Tracks. 39mins51secs. |
Leaving behind him the more intricate side of his music, explored in his first album, Zahn takes a trip to the seaside, and lets his imagination run wild. Sat on a beach, at dusk, Arovane observes the movement of the water, the shapes of clouds, the colour of the sun… The compositions are elegant and very simple. The intense use of guitars, sampled and reshaped, defines unexpected powerful, emotional and beautiful musical landscapes. Not unlike some of Aphex Twin’s Selected Ambient Work 2 or Autechre’s Amber, Zahn dismisses any technical complication and build on slick surfaces. Tides is atmospheric, organic, and very much alive. Theme, which opens the album, echoed at the other end by Epilogue, on the strength of its desperately simple harpsichord line, entice the listener into the depth of the opus. The songs are rather short and sharp, rarely going over the five minutes mark. That is, apart from the magnificent Storm, building up slowly on waves of subtle melodies and concussed breaks. Other highlights include the title track and A Secret, both driven by lazy beats and late evening breezy feeling, or the free flowing Deauville.
Tides is a very consistent and peaceful record. It works as a whole, each track being closely related to the next. Uwe Zahn delves into the more intimate part of his musical personality to create a timeless piece of music, and demonstrates that he is one of the stronger performers in his field.
| 01 | Theme | 06 | A Secret |
| 02 | Tides | 07 | The Storm |
| 03 | Eleventh! | 08 | Deauville |
| 04 | Tomorrow Morning | 09 | Epilogue |
| 05 | Seaside |
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08'00 |
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AROVANE
Atol Scrap (EFA516642) Din 1999 11 Tracks. 64mins23secs. Buy this CD on line now |
Intricate
and beautiful, slick and rough, the music of Arovane is full of contradictions.
The first album from this German act evokes early Autechre
or Aphex Twin works, with its funky, clicky beats and ethereal melodies.
But Athol Scrap has its own agenda. In turn very dreamy, on Ambelio,
Failed,
R/Elet
or the magnificent title track, or sophisticated, on Tascel_7,
Scapen
Te or Amine, it never ceases to surprise and amaze. The mind
of Arovane doesn’t appear to apprehend complexity in the way others do.
Although sounds sometimes collide violently with each other, the melodies
are pure and simple in appearance, almost liquid. They rush through headphones
and speakers like wild horses, but are seemingly static and calm. Athol
Scrap has a heart beating inside, is human, before all. It also suggests
that the first impression is not necessarily the lasting one, that, if
you care to look closer, you'll find an elaborate structure, a myriad of
elements, all being themselves made of even smaller parts.
Arovane
synchronizes his machines with his imagination, only to produce a brilliant
record, fresh and exciting, in the great tradition of the German sound
explorers.
| 01 | Nonlin.r | 07 | Revart Amx |
| 02 | Tascel_7 | 08 | Failed |
| 03 | Thaem Nue | 09 | Amine |
| 04 | Ambelio | 10 | R/Elet |
| 05 | Scapen Te | 11 | Atol Scrap |
| 06 | Norvum |
| AROVANE
The official home of Arovane. |
| CITY
CENTRE OFFICES
German label City Centre Offices, based in Berlin, is home to a few interesting acts, Arovane being one of the most creative. |
| DIN
RECORDS
And another German electronic label. Home of Arovane. |
| ELEKTRONIK.CO.UK
Very interesting label for curious people and electronic music fans. The site features MP3 from Arovane and other artists. |