LORN
Ask The Dust
ZEN187
Ninja Tune 2012
12 Tracks. 44mins01secs

Amazon UK: CD | LP | DLD  US: CD | LP | DLD Boomkat: CD | LP | DLD iTunes: DLD

Two years on from his second album, Nothing Else, published on Flying Lotus’s Brainfeeder, Lorn returns with a new slice of razor sharp dark and gritty electronica. The project of Milwaukee-based Marcos Ortega, Lorn first appeared in 2007 with a debut album, Grief Machine, published on French imprint VGR, to this day the label’s sole release, as a limited vinyl edition, but it is really with his Brainfeeder outputs, consisting of two EPs and an album, that Ortega really began to get noticed. Channeling dark strands of dubstep-infused electronica, Nothing Else sounded like a nightmarish ride on a ghost train with no possibility to get off at any point. Ask The Dust, which takes its title from a 1939 novel by John Fante, is cut from a similar wood, but the stage has moved from the fun fair to a much more toxic playground. Continue Reading »

RETINA.IT
Descending Into Crevasse
Gm014
Glacial Movements 2012
06 Tracks. 52mins42secs

Amazon UK: CD | DLD US: CD | DLD Boomkat: CD | DLD iTunes: DLD

Retina.it, the Neapolitan duo formed of Nicola Buono and Lino Monaco, ordinarily assemble extremely intricate and gritty records which place them at the sharpest edge of electronic music, but, their latest sonic excursion is quite a different offering altogether. Published on Italian isolationist imprint Glacial Movements, purveyor of sub-zero desolate ambient since 2006, Descending Into Crevasse is an extremely contemplative collection, its components, almost entirely devoid of beats, crystallised into slowly looping patterns which occasionally disappear down incredibly vast reverbs. Described as a theoretical journey down ice crevasses, a metaphor for human introspection, Descending Into Crevasse is quite a departure for the duo whose releases on Hefty, Mousiklab or Flatemate have, until now, largely demonstrated a strong appetite for textured electronica.

Although they partly subscribe to Glacial Movements’ isolationist theory, Retina.it opt for a slightly more refined and open-ended approach for much of this album. Continue Reading »

POLYSICK
Digital Native
ZIQ324
Planet Mu 2012
15 Tracks. 59mins53secs

Amazon UK: CD | LP | DLD US: CD | LP | DLD Boomkat: CD | LP iTunes: DLD

Like many of his contemporaries, Egisto Sopor operates under a number of aliases, but, despite a few CDr and cassette releases in recent years, Digital Native is his official debut full length, published through Planet Mu’s auspicious channel.

Hailing from Rome, Sopor, who also co-runs DVD and video imprint and production unit AAVV, who have been getting noticed in some electronic circles in recent months, claims that, when he works on a track, he usually has visuals in mind. It is therefore not surprising to find many cinematic moments scattered across this record, but the mood is never set for very long here. Dreamy soundscapes and laidback ambiences often collide with more upbeat or unsettling moments. Equally, Sopor’s abundance of influences range from early acid, techno or electro to ambient, dark electronica and disco, and are at times placed in sharp contrast from each other, as if he was purposely trying to confuse his audience as to exactly who or what is Polysick; and over the course of the fifteen tracks collated here, he has plenty of opportunities to do just that. Continue Reading »

HAUSCHKA
Salon Des Amateurs Remix EP Vol. 1
12FAT085
Fat-Cat Records 2012
02 Tracks. 16mins26secs
Format: 12”/Digital

HAUSCHKA
Salon Des Amateurs Remix EP Vol. 2
12FAT086
Fat-Cat Records 2012
02 Tracks. 15mins15secs
Format: 12″/Digital

Salon Des Amateurs Remix Vol. 1
Amazon UK: 12″ | DLD Boomkat: 12″ | DLD
Salon Des Amateurs Remix Vol. 2
Amazon UK: DLD Boomkat: DLD

The prospect of a techno album from Hauschka may have sounded incongruous a year ago, but it is what Volker Bertelman delivered, of sort, with Salon Des Amateurs last April. Moving away from the post classical tone of his previous releases and taking on the counterpoint of what he had put his prepared piano through until then, Bertelman opted to experiment with playful loops, miniature grooves and occasional orchestral flourishes. If the result was never intended to crash onto the dance floors of any Balearic superclubs, it showed just how imaginative Bertelman could be with his usual framework. The next logical step was to turn all this on its head again and have these compositions reworked by refined artists, and this is exactly what these two EPs, released a few weeks apart, offer.

There may only be four remixes in total for now, but these are tantalising teasers for a whole album’s worth of such treatments, with names such as Vladislav Delay, Alva Noto or Matthew Herbert announced as contributors, due later on this year. Continue Reading »

JHEREK BISCHOFF
Composed
BAY83
The Leaf Label 2012
09 Tracks. 36mins30secs

Amazon UK: CD | LP | DLD US: CD | LP | DLD Boomkat: CD | LP | DLD iTunes: DLD

DIY can be perilous when it comes to music, and while it is a fairly common approach nowadays, it is not always one that works extremely well, especially in pop music. But when a DIY record sounds as lush, polished and accomplished as Jherek Bischoff’s Leaf debut, it beggars belief how just one person can be responsible for such a complex and exquisite record. But this is pretty much what Composed is all about. Originally composed on a ukulele, then painstakingly recorded one instrument at a time, Bischoff visiting each of the musicians who form his virtual orchestra to record them in their living rooms, at times layering a number of performances from one player, all this captured on a single microphone, and all on a laptop, to achieve a convincing orchestral sound for the fraction of the price of a real ensemble. Continue Reading »

CAKEWALK
Wired
HUBROCD2514/HUBROLP3514
Hubro Music 2012
06 Tracks. 30mins43secs

Amazon UK: CD | LP | DLD US: CD | LP | DLD iTunes: DLD

Wired may start in somewhat dreamy fashion, but this is only short lived; ten seconds in, drummer Ivar Loe Bjørnstad, soon joined by guitarist/bassist Stephan Meidell, sets a pretty effective metronomic pace, and it is developed over much of the next half hour, only breaking down occasionally with diffuse atmospheric moments. Although this debut album from Norwegian improv power trio is, at just thirty minutes, a rather swift affair, there is enough energy here to power an album double the length of this one. Together with keyboard player Øystein Skar, Meidell and Bjørnstad operate as a close knit formation, finding much of their inspiration in the motorik sound of Can, Cluster or Faust, upon which they apply a work ethic sourced in their respective jazz backgrounds.

Tight and incredibly dense, their sound also occasionally manages to take on a much more fluid and hazy appearance. Continue Reading »

SPARKLING WIDE PRESSURE
Grandfather Harmonic
CIRCA212
Preservation 2012
06 Tracks. 50mins32secs

SEAWORTHY
Bellows And Breath
CIRCA112
Preservation 2012
08 Tracks. 38mins38secs

Grandfather Harmonic
Amazon UK: CD | DLD US: CD | DLD Boomkat: CD | DLD iTunes: DLD
Bellows And Breath
Amazon UK: CD | DLD US: CD | DLD Boomkat: CD | DLD iTunes: DLD

The first two in Preservation’s second batch of releases for their Circa project, which aims at showcasing lesser-known artists with a taste for exploratory experimentations, these two albums, released in a series of 300 copies each on CD and as unlimited downloads, come from Tennessee-based artist Frank Baugh (Sparkling Wide Pressure) and Cameron Webb, from Sydney (Seaworthy). Although both already have a number of releases under their respective belts, most of Baugh’s have been very limited runs, for the most part on cassette. Webb on the other hand has been publishing records since the late nineties and has appeared on Steady Cam, Low Point and 12K, for whom he has recorded two solo albums and a collaboration with Matt Rösner. Circa originally comprised a set of six releases by Fabio Orsi, Aaron Martin & Justin Wright, Nickolas Mohanna, Aera C, Deep Magic and Quiet Evening, all published through 2011. Continue Reading »

PHILIPPE PETIT & FRIENDS
Cordophony
HOMEN035
Home Normal 2012
13 Tracks. 45mins32secs

PHILIPPE PETIT
Eugenie
ALRN029
Alrealon Musique 2012
04 Tracks. 24mins08secs

Cordophony
Amazon UK: DLD US: DLD Boomkat: CD | DLD iTunes: DLD
Eugenie
Amazon UK: DLD US: DLD iTunes: DLD

The dust has barely had the time to settle on the second proper Strings Of Consciousness installment that the unstoppable monsieur Petit is back with a handful of releases for Aagoo, Home Normal, Alealon and Utech to be released over the coming weeks.

Marseille-based Philippe Petit is as much a curator as he is a composer, sound artist and musician, and his records have become extraordinary meeting points for artists of all horizons. Equally, the music he produces ranges from abstract post rock to intense soundscaping to post-classical and beyond. This is precisely where Cordophony stands. Continue Reading »

SUSANNA
Wild Dog
RCD2128
Rune Grammofon 2012
10 Tracks. 35mins01secs

Amazon UK: CD | DLD US: CD | DLD Boomkat: CD | DLD iTunes: DLD

With or without her Magical Orchestra, the duo she formed with Morten Qvenild almost ten years ago, Susanna Wallumrød has built quite an odd catalogue of material both original and, most prominently quite unfortunately, covers. Whilst the first Susanna & The Magical Orchestra album only contained two (she famously revisited Dolly Parton’s Jolene and Leonard Bernstein’s Who Am I), the pair’s second saw them take on anyone from Depeche Mode, Joy Division and Leonard Cohen to Prince or AC/DC and indiscriminately apply their ultra sensitive pop onto them. This was far from being an entirely successful endeavour, and saw them risking to compromise some of the brilliant songwriting moments they had shows on their debut and becoming a predictably formulaic partnership. Wallumrød threw further doubts on her work with her second solo effort, on which she once again forwent her talent as a songwriter to interpret songs by Will Oldham, Nico, Sandy Denny, Roy Harper or Abba.

A quick look at the track listing of her third solo effort for Rune Grammofon, her fourth in total, would have anyone think she is once again up to her old tricks (Imagine, Lonely Heart); a listen however quickly dispels any doubt that Ms Wallumrød is here to deliver her own material and nothing else. Continue Reading »

LUCA SIGURTÀ
Bliss
FRATTO017
Fratto9 Under The Sky Records 2012
05 Tracks. 42mins19secs

Bliss is an all too elusive feeling; one which conjures both ideas of extreme spiritual peace and of intense yet controlled happiness, and which often requires to be honed to be reached. It is anything but owed or deserved, it is attained. Bliss is exactly what Italian sound artist Luca Sigurtà is aiming at with his new album, his first for Fratto9, and whilst the industrial setting featured on the cover of his album may hint at everything but bliss, the music offers a very different perspective.

Recorded between 2010 and 2011, Bliss follows releases on Afe, Creative Sources, Tulip or Fragments. Articulated around five untitled pieces, all clocking between six and a half and ten minutes, the album is a slow and stern soundtrack. Continue Reading »

SIMON SCOTT
Below Sea Level
12K1071
12K 2012
07 Tracks. 44mins33secs

Amazon UK: CD US: CD

With releases on Miasmah, Sonic Pieces, Immune, Slaapwel, Low Point and Secret Furry Hole, it seems a pretty logical step for Cambridge-based multi-instrumentist and sound artist Simon Scott to release an album on Taylor Deupree’s excellent 12K, but Below Sea Level, Scott’s third solo full length in four years is much more than a simple collection of tracks. Everything about it, from the music itself and the numerous field recordings used to the cover image and the journal that accompanies it, was inspired by or sourced from the Fens, a low-lying marshland region spreading from Boston and King’s Lynn to the North, Peterborough to the West to Cambridge to the South and the North Sea to the East.

Scott spent two years criss-crossing this vast flat area, which at times spreads below sea level, hence the album title, with a wealth of recording equipments to capture some of its sounds and atmospheres, then added treated guitars and drones to create a stark, yet rich, collection of airy soundscapes and dreamy sequences. Continue Reading »

LAST STEP
Sleep
ZIQ303
Planet Mu 2012
09 Tracks. 34mins09secs

Amazon UK: CD | LP | DLD US: CD | LP | DLD Boomkat: CD | LP | DLD iTunes: DLD

Aaron Funk may be best known for his often corrosive drill’n’bass and intensive release schedule as Venetian Snares, but he has a gentler side which he has been expressing through his work as Last Step since 2005. Taking on a resolutely more acid-based approach, Funk has issued two albums under this moniker, the first one, self-titled, in 2007 and the second, 1961, a year later, both on Planet Mu.

As its title suggests, this third album is concerned with sleep, something which transpires through the track titles (Xyrem, Rohypno, Microsleeps, Somno), and, if Funk is to be believed, was recorded as he was falling asleep. Continue Reading »