MINT
The Metronomical Boy
BOLTLP013
Boltfish Recordings 2011
11 Tracks. 51mins06secs

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London-based artist and co-owner of Boltfish Recordings Mint, AKA Murray Fisher, returns two years on from his last full length offering, Cardboard Rocketships, with his third album. Based around a quaint little children’s story he devised especially for the album, The Metronomical Boy pretty much takes off from where its predecessor left off, building on gentle melodic pieces and crisp electronica, tainted with occasional glitches and bleeps.

Fisher has been releasing music since 2004, has published a number of EPs on U-Cover, Lacedmilk Technologies, Rednetic or Duotones, and has been featured on countless compilations. His debut album, Binary Counting, was published on U-Cover in 2007, and was followed two years later with Cardboard Rocketships, with a remix album, Glued, Stapled, Remixed, with contributions from Cheju, Cyan341, Yvat, Posthuman and many more, released last year.

The album opens with Queasy, a track originally featured on Rednetic’s One Point Two compilation five years ago, on which Fisher builds a slightly psychedelic backdrop from pulsating soundwaves, upon which he attaches a contrasting glitchy breakbeat. Things take on a smoother turn after that, with delicate chiming melodies and rounded electronic sounds defining much of the rest of the album, from the child-like innocence of tracks such as Ina’s Special Day or Interluded, which are not without recalling the sugar-coated electronica of Plone’s For Beginner Piano, to the more robust Cartouche, Free Association, Letting Go Quietly or Daub, which find ground in the vicinity of ISAN.

At times, Fisher drops beats almost entirely, favouring instead sumptuous atmospheric settings. On Darker Than A Beginning, piano and electronics circle over a carpet of tiny glitches, whilst Air Chamber is a short, yet vast-sounding piece of dreamy ambient peppered with hints of Tangerine Dream.

Mint’s sonic world is purposely warm and inviting, based on gentle electronic textures, occasionally broken beats and charming melodies. This unthreatening approach is further reflected in many of Murray Fisher’s title choices, and continues to define his work. With its embedded story and its soft approach, The Metronomical Boy could almost be subtitled ‘An introduction to electronica for children’, yet it doesn’t take away the fact that Mint creates some wonderfully engaging electronic music.

3.8/5

Mint | Mint (Soundcloud) | Boltfish Recordings
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BIOTRON SELF
Cloud Bands And Arabesques
BOLTLP012
Boltfish Recordings 2011
10 Tracks. 39mins25secs

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If Biotron Shelf may sound like a rather enigmatic word combination, a simple re-ordering of the letters reveal the names of Wil Bolton and Murray Fisher, two sound artists and musicians who are perhaps best known for their respective solo projects, Cheju and Mint. Their first collaborative effort under the Biotron Shelf banner dates back to 2006 and their album 33 Minutes North, published on U-Cover, which was followed a couple of years later by an EP, Transmissions (Smallfish). Three years on, the pair are back with an EP, Corrugations, and a second album, both released on their very own Boltfish Recordings imprint, a label they set up back in 2004 and which has since delivered a number of fine electronic records by the likes of Infinite Scale, Skytree, Zainetica, Yvat or Polestar to name but a few.

With Cloud Bands And Arabesques, the pair continue to develop the lush electronic soundscapes, crisp beats and evocative melodies that characterized their debut release, which also occasionally incorporates elements of acoustic instrumentation. The album was recorded in Fisher’s studio in London and is filled with moods and atmospheres collected around east London. Over the course of this collection, the pair create a clair-obscure universe with delicate impressionist touches, at times vaporous and fluid, from the shifting drone formations of opening piece October Mist, which overflow onto the shimmering textures of Three Ten To Euston, or the soft summery tones of What Colour Is Your World? to the earthy grain of Forests Of Glass And Steel, at others more clearly defined and concrete, whether it is the kaleidoscopic Formless Geometry and Butternut Squash, the off-kilter folk of A Tree Without Birds or the sticky funk of Clockwork Pharmacy.

But while the overall mood of the record appears particularly chilled, it actually changes with every track as Bolton and Fisher combine their individual sound into a rather eclectic soundtrack. Despite often appearing straightforward, the pieces presented here are often complex constructions built around intricate rhythmic patterns and particularly evocative soundscapes, and serve beautiful melodic themes. This is an approach that both artists have developed through their respective work, but it takes on a different aspect here. Cloud Bands And Arabesques is often quite difficult to pin down for definite, its many influences assimilated into a very individual sound. With this record, Biotron Shelf have created a particularly effective collection of timeless electronica.

4.4/5

Biotron Shelf | Biotron Shelf (MySpace) | Boltfish Recordings
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SABI
Glued On Thin Memories
BOLTLP009
Boltfish Records 2010
15 Tracks. 68mins52secs

Norman Records: CD

The excellent Boltfish continues to deliver the goods with their latest release, the debut album by British-Japanese electronic artist Sabi, who has previously been spotted on Cactus Island Recordings with a first EP, Nebulous Sights, four years ago, and more recently on Phaseworks with 71:36, a split LP recorded with Kiyo. Sabi is the solo project of Taro Peter Little, a graphic designer who is currently studying music at the Tokyo University Of Arts.

Weaving together various strands of electronica into one rather lush collection, Little creates here a particularly beautiful record. Glued On Thin Memories is quite a varied album, and one that bears its many influences proudly, from Piano Phase-like Reich-ian influences on Halfspine and, to a lesser extend Mote Diver, to the Harold Budd-tinted title track or the Eno-infused Burning On A Tiny Black Lake or Melting Antennas and strong Orb-overtones of pieces such as Screaming Bulb, Signals Left or Music For Stones + Dore Cigales. This is a risky strategy, but one that pays off here. Indeed, while Little appears to leave his influences largely exposed, it is what he makes of them and how they integrate into his work that give this album its own identity. The music is evocative, with sumptuous melodic lines and built from lush soundscapes, and while he goes from particularly rich sonic feasts, propelled by sharp rhythmic sections, to much more atmospheric and, at times, minimal pieces, there is here a sense of direction and a strong focus on evolution binding this record together pretty seamlessly.

All the way through, Sabi works with beautiful organic pulsating soundscapes which give a number of tracks here a very aquatic feel. This is reinforced by the extreme fluidity with characterises much of the album progression as tracks are effortlessly blending in, independently of the mood of any individual piece. Instead of placing his compositions according to their tone or pace, Little adopts what seems at first a much more random approach, but this actually contributes to make Glued On Thin Memories a more unpredictable and organic record and denote a good level of maturity and understanding. This is not to say that there is no narrative running through. Quite the opposite in fact. Little continuously moves through areas of light and shade, placing expressive rhythmic pieces next to contemplative ambient sound forms and emotionally charged piano-led compositions to create a kaleidoscopic journey, which never really loses any of its appeal over its whole course.

With Glued On Thin Memories, Sabi has produced a pretty flawless electronic record, which relies heavily on timeless concepts and ideas to build a very effective collection of stunning electronic pieces.

4.6/5

Sabi | Sabi (MySpace) | Boltfish Records
Norman Records: CD

YVAT
Kunzite
BOLTLP007
Boltfish Recordings 2009
12 Tracks. 42mins24secs

Buy: MP3

Although a new addition to the ever expanding Boltfish roster, Yvat is far from a new comer, having under his belt a considerable amount of albums, EPs and compilation appearances. Hailing from Bucharest, Romania, where he manages his own sound design agency, Yvat, born Octavian Justinian Uta, released his first album, Concerto For Violin And Analog Orchestra, in 2003 on Birmingham-based imprint Experimental Seafood, and since went on to work with Subliminal Tape Club, Cactus Island, +G6PD and Envizagae or Patpong Records.

Right from the onset, Kunzite is a gritty and angular affair, where cold mechanical structures drive the momentum while more subtle touches bring unexpected glimmers of emotion and warmth throughout. Using sharp rhythmic sections and crystal-clear sounds, and applying onto them clever little melodies, Yvat creates a series of complex miniature universes which are, at times, very reminiscent of Autechre circa Trip Repetae/Chiastic Slide. Indeed, Uta shares with the British duo a flair for bringing soulless electronics to life and giving them various amounts of emotional charge, not typically through sweeping arrangements or tricks of the melody, but through sound design and placement.

Uta’s first few releases borrowed a lot from classical music, and here, it seems as if the same musical rigor serves as the backbone of this record. While sounds often affect each other over the course of a track, each one occupies a particular space here, as if it alone determined the overall structure of its parent track. By keeping his compositions below the five minute mark, Uta manages to create an impression of almost permanent change here, each track sounding very distinctive, yet, the overall album sounds extremely consistent both sonically and concept-wise, ensuring there is a constant flow from beginning to end, with no dead moments to be heard.

In the six years he has been releasing music, Yvat has covered an impressive amount of ground. As a result, Kunzite sounds both mature and fresh, fuelled with a great amount of creativity and direction.  In the process, Boltfish have just published their most compelling record yet.

4.7/5

Yvat | Boltfish Recordings
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MINT
Cardboard Rocketships
BOLTLP006
Boltfish Recordings 2009
13 Tracks. 61mins15secs

Only weeks after Cheju, one half of the team heading Boltfish Record released his latest album, it is the turn of London-based Murray Fisher, AKA Mint, the other half, to deliver a collection of fine electronic music. Infused with the rich evolving melodic and textures that have been at the heart of the Boltfish ethic ever since the label was first established, five years ago, Cardboard Rocketships concentrates in twelve tracks, plus a reworking of Ulrich Schnauss’s Shine, what Fisher has been developing over the course of countless EPs, released not only on his own imprint, but also through U-Cover, Kahvi Collective, Rednetic or Lacedmilk Technologies.

Even more so than that of Cheju, Fisher’s music is characterised by strong, evocative, almost naïve, melodies and sweeping cinematic orchestrations, which heavily contribute to create deeply dramatic and effective pieces. All the way through, he develops beautiful themes for just long enough, reaching a point where each composition seems to progress almost by itself, but carefully bringing them to an end before they start losing focus. This means that the vast majority of the tracks are kept under the five minute mark here, which, while occasionally leaving a slight feeling of frustration as the mind remains set on a particular pattern long after it has vanished, also works toward intensifying the cadence of the record itself. Pieces such as the slightly kaleidoscopic Keiji’s Dream, Aquarius or Dead Pixels for instance appear to progressively gather momentum as more layers of sound appear caught up in powerful swirls, while, on the more melancholic Grace, Personal Spaces or Dorothy’s Song, the restraint with which the melodies progress through more delicate sound formations is heightened by the feeling that anything could come to break the piece at any time.

Right at the heart of this album is Mint’s dreamy remix of Ulrich Schnauss’s Shine, from his 2007 album Goodbye. Stripping the original of its moody overtones and shaded vocals, Fisher renders its deeply ethereal washes with gentle electronic waves slowly building up over a recurring theme and a slightly too conspicuous beat. The track bears little resemblance to Schnauss’s version but certainly fits in pretty well with the rest of the album, ensuring a great consistency of tone throughout.

Cardboard Rocketships is only Mint’s second proper full length, following his 2007 Binary Counting released on U-Cover. Close in spirit to the likes of Isan, Gimmik or Benge, Mint delivers here a rather engaging and fine collection of beautiful and warm electronic music.

4.4/5

Mint | Boltfish Recordings

CHEJU
Broken Waves
BOLTLP005
Boltfish Records 2009
15 Tracks. 78mins52secs

Cheju is the solo project of Wil Bolton, who also shares duties as head of Boltfish Records with Murray Fisher, who regularly officiates as MINT. Bolton relocated from London to peaceful Norfolk a couple of years ago and now operates from the more urban Liverpool. Following a debut EP in 2003, he has appeared on labels such as Percussion Lab, En:peg Digital, Laced Milk, Rednetic or Static Caravan. Cheju’s music is a sophisticated blend of clean melodic electronica, angular hip-hop beats and processed atmospheric textures.

While Broken Waves is not Bolton’s first album as such, it is his more prominent release to date. Collecting twelve compositions, recorded over the course of three years and originally published on now sold out EPs for Static Caravan, Smallfish, Herb Recordings, Unlabel, October Man and Boltfish, plus three specially commissioned remixes, spread over just under eighty minutes, this album acts as a sort of retrospective of Cheju’s work and offers a perfect entry point to his catalogue. The album comes as a single CD and as a limited edition CD and DVD package, featuring videos for Data Packet and Object Not Found.

Despite the time frame and the various track release contexts, Broken Waves is surprisingly consistent, and has a natural flow pretty much throughout. This is certainly a testament of Cheju’s integrity as an artist, and a clear manifestation of his musical persona. The sound is varied and rich, drifting from exquisite digital slicing (Traces, Pica) to lush atmospheric sound forms (Pachinko, Bracken) and evocative landscapes (Closing In, Data Packet), but the overall mood remains dreamy and, at times, cinematic, especially when Bolton toys with orchestral forms, on Blanchot, weaving together processed strings, subtle beats and ethereal melody.

The three additional remixes, placed at the end of the album, continue on a similar mood, but also bring some new elements to the mix. The Reason Or Romanza remix of Casiotonic certainly does justice to the piece’s title by injecting some playful beats and sounds, while Electricwest turns Scattered into a haunting textural drone and Preston gives Bellflowerroot a truly heavenly feel, complete with warm analogue soundwaves and guitar motifs.

Ever since it first appeared, Boltfish has always favoured beautiful melodic electronica. Cheju’s work sticks close to the label’s ethic and demonstrates here a strong sense for bringing textures, atmospheres and melodies together into beautiful pieces.

4.1/5

Cheju | Cheju (MySpace) | Boltfish Recordings

ZAINETICA
Redirection
BOLT035
Botlfish Recordings 2006
14 Tracks. 76mins25secs

While Redirection is only Zainetica’s third album released on CD, London-based artist Mark Streatfield has, since Escaping Dust (2003), accumulated an impressive body of work, from MP3-only EPs and albums on labels such as Boltfish, IVDT, Enpeg or Laced Milk Technologies, to countless compilation contributions. He has also been running his own imprint, the ever-excellent Rednetic, releasing music from the likes of Joseph Auer, Mint, Utility Player, Cheju and The Vizier of Damascus.

Streatfield’s first foray into music dates back to the drum’n’bass days, but, in recent years, he progressively moved toward gentler terrains. His debut album, Escaping Dust, was a masterful exercise in classic electronica, with echoes of early Black Dog, Beaumont Hannant or Ritchie Hawtin giving it a solid base. Redirection shows very similar affiliations as Streatfield serves subtle melodies wrapped in beautiful analogue soundscapes and organic textures. Yet, the general pastoral tone of this record is often interrupted with more urban emissions, especially with pieces such as Dolorous, MI, Redirection or Divided adding a considerable amount of grit to this otherwise rather corporeal collection. As he assembles corrosive glitches and harsh electronic textures over angular rhythmic sections, Streatfield almost imperceptibly redefines his musical scope, incorporating new sounds and ambiences into his blend of classic Detroit techno and early Warp-era electronica.

Although the music appears effortless, as each track gently flows into the next, the level of complexity is high. Working from rudimentary sources, Streatfield builds his compositions bit by bit, applying layers with parsimony to focus on the chore structure of a piece and avoid any distracting elements. Redirection is however anything but austere. Streatfield opts for warm soundscapes and sprawling atmospherics to offset the minimal structures he toys with, alternating between vivid formations (Inception, Dolorous, Concept, Hidden, Daylight) and more subdued moments (Central, Maglev, Close), and even dabbles with folk elements on the delicate Underfoot, on which a treated acoustic guitar lands on a abrasive bed of white noise and distrotions.

A logical evolution in Streatfield’s prolific body of work, Redirection is an incredibly diverse, yet focused and consistent record. Streatfield is never shy of showing off his influences, but, as he continues to gain maturity and confidence, his music remains truly original and fresh. This is electronic music at its cleverest and most human.

Explore: Zainetica | Boltfish Recordings