MARK FELL
Periodic Orbit Of Dynamic System Related To A Knot
EMEGO133
Editions Mego 2011
02 Tracks. 46mins38secs

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

Precision is the key with Mark Fell’s work, and things couldn’t be any more precise than his latest album, Periodic Orbit Of Dynamic System Related To A Knot, which comprises two tracks, entitled This and That, each lasting precisely twenty-three minutes and sixteen seconds. Equally, the music presented here, whilst sourced from various projects, is, as ever, extremely dynamic and clean cut, and the result of extensive digital processing. In fact apart for the sound of a Mac Mini failing to load a DVD and a Pi Saw flute, the entire album was recorded, mixed and edited via MIDI.

Mark Fell first came to attention in the late nineties as one half of SND, a project he set up with Mat Steel, with three albums released in four years on Mille Plateaux, with a fourth album published two years ago on Raster-Noton. With his solo project, Fell has continued to explore the possibilities of digital processing, most prominently in the last couple of years on a series of releases for Editions Mego and Raster-Noton. Continue Reading »

MIKA VAINIO
Life (… It Eats You Up)
EMEGO124
Editions Mego 2011
10 Tracks. 58mins25secs

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

There is, we are told, only a fine line between pain and pleasure. It is a line that Mika Vainio has crossed more than most through his extensive solo or collaborative work, pushing his heavy duty sound processing ever further into abstraction and distortion. And his latest offering is no different. Released on Editions Mego, the guitar-based Life (… It Eats You Up) explores some of the man’s recurring themes from a somewhat fresh angle. The resulting soundtrack is not ultimately that different from the majority of his output, although it throws up some interesting oddities. Guitar sounds, distortions and feedback are put through a comprehensive digital grinding process, but not to a point where they become totally unrecognizable. The settings though are fairly brutal. Continue Reading »

MARK FELL
UL8
EMEGO111
Editions Mego 2010
20 Tracks. 64mins48secs

MARK FELL
Multistability
RN125
Raster-Noton 2010
17 Tracks. 63mins48secs

UL8
Amazon UK: CD | DLD Amazon US: CD | DLD Boomkat: CD | DLD iTunes: DLD
Multistability
Amazon UK: CD | DLD Amazon US: CD | DLD Boomkat: CD | DLD iTunes: DLD

SND, the duo of Mat Steel and Mark Fell, have, in just four albums released over the course of ten years, defined a totally unique sound, based on extremely minimal electronic soundscapes and rarefied grooves. Fell released his first solo record under his name back in 2004 on Line, and has since collaborated with a number of other musicians and worked on numerous sound installations and performances. In a matter of weeks towards the end of 2010, Fell delivered two rather different records, one, UL8, on Editions Mego, the other, Multistability, on Raster-Noton. Continue Reading »

ANGEL
Kalmukia
EMEGO 087CD
Editions Mego 2008
04 Tracks. 57mins47secs

As though emerging from a pirate airwave, the deep wobbly bass and stabs of twilight noise that open Kalmukia shadow the dirty, chaotic dynamism of so much present-day metal rock. It makes for a disconcerting moment, but at the very least, the rest of the album is an oftentimes disorienting, disjointed experience.

Ilpo Vaisanen (Pan Sonic), Hildur Guonadottir (Lost In Hildurness), and Dirk Dresselhaus (Schneider TM) tie together all of their loose, flying ends, but a great deal of curiosity and tact isn’t shown in the process. Continue Reading »