EMANUELE ERRANTE
Time Elapsing Handheld
KALKCD57/KALKLP61
Karaoke Kalk 2011
07 Tracks. 44mins10secs

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The boundary between leftfield atmospheric electronica and modern classical is forever getting more blurred as musicians cross-pollinate each genre with elements borrowed from the other. Composers such as Max Richter, Jóhann Jóhannsson or Ólafur Arnalds have done a lot to democratise the use of electronic textures and field recordings in classical music through their respective work, while on the other side, the likes of Murcof, Deaf Center or much of the Miasmah roster have incorporated classical forms and instruments into their electronic set up. One such musician is Italian experimental sound artist Emanuele Errante, whose previous two albums, Migrations (Apegenine, 2006) and Humus (Somnia, 2008), treaded the line between electronica and classical rather convincingly, drawing comparison to Deaf Center, Marsen Jules and Rafael Anton Irisarri amongst others. Continue Reading »

BILL WELLS & STEFAN SCHNEIDER
Pianotapes
KALKCD56/KALKLP60
Karaoka Kalk 2010
08 Tapes. 46mins43secs

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It is not the first time that Scottish pianist, bassist and guitarist Bill Wells and German musician Stefan Schneider, best known as one third of To Rococo Rot, have collaborated. In 2003, the pair recorded an album, Pick Up Sticks (Leaf), with Annie Whitehead and Barbara Morgenstern, a collaboration which was followed by a second, Paper Of Pins, published last year on Karaoke Kalk. Pianotapes marks however the first time the two of them have worked on a record.

Pianotapes is the result of an intensely organic recording process. While Wells played delicate piano motifs, Schneider recorded them on old reel-to-reels tape machines and played them back at varied speeds, in turn impacting on Wells’s performance. Continue Reading »

TOLOUSE LOW TRAX
Mask Talk
KARAOKEKALKCD052/LP056
Karaoke Kalk 2010
10 Tracks. 64mins59secs

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Behind the slightly silly pun serving as a banner for this project is Detlef Weinrich, who, as a member of Kreidler has, alongside bands like To Rococo Rot or Tarwater, been shaping and reshaping a particular blend of Krautrock-infused electronica which, while deeply indebted to the German progressive music scene of the seventies, is also very influenced by contemporary electronic music. This also informs much of his solo project, although the angle is somewhat different. His sole appearance so far, via an EP, Boarding To Rio, released in 2006 on Amontillado Music, collected seven tracks which were, for the most part, clearly destined to the dance-floor.

Four years on, Weinrich’s debut album, published on Berlin’s Karaoke Kalk, continues to focus on hypnotic loops and themes, but here, the man explores a much wider sonic scope. Continue Reading »