TOMMI BASS
Gamma
RN022
Rednetic Recordings 2009
08 Tracks. 61mins45secs

CD: Smallfish Download: Amazon UK | Amazon US | iTunes

It has been three years since London-born Tommi Bass dropped his first bombshell on Rednetic. The album, Tommi Lab Vol. 1, was followed by a second volume, released as a digital format on Rednetic’s sister net label Redose in 2007. Since, he has moved lock, stock and barrels to Berlin and spent time developing a blend of minimal techno much more in tune with the German capital than with its British counterpart.

Marking Tommi Bass’s return to Rednetic after a stint on Minimal People, Gamma showcases a much sharper and focussed sound than on his previous outings for the label, in line with his recent Purple Phaaze and Alfa Series releases. Occasionally reminiscent of labels such as Perlon or M-nus, the music collected on Gamma freely feeds from Berlin’s infamous minimal techno, injecting hefty linear beats and meaty bass-lines into rarefied soundscapes, where melodic themes struggle to find enough air to breathe, let alone develop. Everything on this album is geared up for the dance floor, from the swooping bass pulses of Gamma_1 and the pneumatic driving beat of Gamma_6 to the crawling dub-ridden Gamma_4 and the radiating filtered voice that appears to bounce off every beat on Gamma_7. Tommi Bass creates here an extremely linear and consistent set, each track dominated by a pounding bass/drums combo, but it is easy to miss the finer details that give each of them its individual slant. On Gamma_3 for instance, he adds a notion of decay by weaving crackles into his beat, and a sinister industrial undertone to the latter part of Gamma_5, while out-of-sync percussions threaten to destabilise Gamma_4. Gamma_6 in particular seems to harbour an extensive microscopic world under its rhythmic skeleton, fuelled by constant injections of noises which are then drowned in strong dub currents.

All the way through, Tommi Bass alternates between resolutely harsh and coarse techno forms and more rounded house grooves, but he still manages to keep the momentum going throughout the whole record. Gamma is a record with many more facets than it originally lets on, making it as much a record designed for the brain as it is for the feet.

4/5

Tommi Bass (MySpace) | Rednetic Recordings
CD: Smallfish Download: Amazon UK | Amazon US | iTunes

JOSEPH AUER
Nu Age
RN021
Rednetic Recordings 2009
11 Tracks. 76mins15secs

Download: iTunes

Born in Chicago, Joseph Auer grew up in Yorkshire and Wales, where he met Mark Streatfield, with whom he eventually set up Rednetic Recordings. Although he is still actively involved in the label, Auer relocated to Tokyo a few years ago and has been living there ever since. Since, he has delivered music for a variety of labels beside Rednetic, including October Man, Boltfish, Lacedmilk Technologies, Smallfish or, recently, Symbolic Interaction. Beside his solo project, Auer is also a member of Lowrider Deluxe with Streatfield, Clive Burns and Simon Thomas. The quartet released their debut album, Future Deluxe, last year on Japanese imprint Symbolic Interaction.

Like Mark Streatfield when he records under his Zainetica guise, Auer has developed a particular blend of Detroit-infused techno which finds its roots in the early nineties British interpretation of the genre, especially The Black Dog or, in Auer’s case, B12 or Kirk Degiorgio. And this is very much what informs his latest release, Nu Age, his first for Rednetic in five years. Like on Freo, the album he released earlier this year on Symbolic Interaction, Auer showcases here his warm and clean sound and taste for smooth yet powerful beats. Right from the onset of album opener Warsaw Dawn, his trademark electronic waves rush in and flood the sonic space, and, as the rhythmic section settles in and sends ripples through its six and a half minutes, Auer is instantly on familiar ground. Following tracks Awake Into A New World and Circuits continue on the same track, wrapping gentle melodies, often tainted with a certain melancholy, with smooth blankets of sounds, processed to feel slightly muffled and occasionally distant, as if Auer’s world was permanently covered with a few inches of snow. Later on, Visions Of Tokyo, fuelled by an almost tribal groove, is more angular and hypnotic, while the defined contours of Teleport give it sharper tone and density.

This album however fails to maintain its momentum and lacks the spark of some of his previous releases. Indeed, everything is a tad too uniform here, with very little to distinguish one track from the next. Auer seems to either work from a very limited sound pool or tailor his production to give this impression. To add to the confusion, themes are repeated at various stages of the record, giving a further impression of linearity. This is very much the case with Doppler Effect Shift which reuses the same motif as the track that precedes it, Circuits, with very little change in context, and closing piece Love Always also seems to feed on a similar structure. Equally, Nu Age and Scattered Satellites share a great number of features and could almost pass as two variations on a same theme.

Creating a blanket sound for a whole record can work extremely well and leave the listener disoriented and lost deep within the record. But, to achieve this, it is necessary to keep the attention focuses in some ways, either through sweeping melodies, strong narrative, or particularly expressive elements, inserted deep within the overall structure of the record. This is unfortunately not the case here, and it is the album which appears disorientated and lost.

Joseph Auer has perhaps let the aesthetic of his sound take over on this particular release and ended up burying his otherwise inviting melodies and soundscapes under slightly too much effect, to the detriment of the overall work. While he deploys here his classic lush and moody techno into often elegant pieces, he leaves his ship drift off too far too early to be in a position to successfully recover it.

2.4/5

Joseph Auer (MySpace) | Rednetic Recordings
Download: iTunes

INFINITE SCALE
Ad Infinitum
RN020
Rednetic Recordings 2009
09 Tracks. 46mins37secs

In the twelve years since the publication of his debut EP, Infinite Scale’s Harmi Palda has been pretty frugal with releases under this particular guise, only issuing a trickle of tracks on EPs and compilations through imprints such as Toytronic, Boltfish or Rednetic. Drawing on a tradition of warm, lush and rich electronica, his work has regularly crossed to live, with, notably, performances at Glastonbury and Bestival under his belt.

On his debut album, Palda develops further his particular blend of electronic music, using beautifully polished and gentle soundscapes and bending them into remarkably effective melodies. Never one to unnecessarily expand or overcomplicate, Palda focuses here on rather short and concise pieces to build a rather evocative narrative, which, while close to the essence of the labels he’s been published on, retains an identity all of its own. Right from the onset of the dreamy Cells, which opens, right through to the closing Liquid Stock, Palda’s intensely fluid and elegant soundscapes, propelled by crisp beats and glitches and occasional infra-bass pulses, shimmer into continuously morphing tones, at times developing into a light and airy piece, at other turning into dense arabesques or exploding into countless minute particles. There is however a great consistency of sound throughout. Indeed, Palda’s trademark sound is the binding force behind this album, feeding into the deepest corners and clearly defining each new level of his compositions.

Whether thought the swelling melodies of Cells, Quibtone Frame, Step Above The Surface or Decisions Of Despair or through the more gentle and introspective plateaux of Slow Down or Landscape, Palda works from the same mould, affecting the final products with almost imperceptible touches, sometimes influencing the tone by bringing the beat to the fore (Behind The Scene), switching direction half way through (Knock Twice), or playing on the opacity of his sonic structure (Step Above The Surface).

Of course, the field of gentle melodic electronica occupied by Infinite Scale is a pretty packed and, all too often, formulaic one. But, far from contenting himself with aimlessly reproducing textures and ambiences with no personal investment, Harmi Palda pushes, with Ad Infinitum, further into territories which he occupies and controls pretty much on his own.

4.3/5

Infinite Scale | Rednetic Recordings

ZAINETICA
Soul Paradox
RN019
Rednetic Recordings 2008
11 Tracks. 73mins55secs

It has been a while since Rednetic founder and Zainetica mastermind Mark Streatfield has released on his own imprint. Instead, Zainetica outputs have been materialising on countless independent labels, including Lacedmilk, Enpeg Digital, Boltfish, Kahvi and many more. It was although with a Zainetica release, Streatfield’s debut, Escaping Dust, to be précised, that the label was launched in 2002. So, his latest dispatch, Soul Paradox, is a very welcome return to the Rednetic fold and another fine addition to a catalogue that is growing to be one of the most consistent around.

The Zainetica sound has evolved very gently in the last six years to incorporate contemporary elements, and this latest offering is no different. While Streatfield deploys here his flawless blend of classic Detroit-infused lush electronica, shaped to accommodate warm sophisticated melodies, he adds some discreet urban undertones, especially on tracks such as A Second Life, Nomad or Soul Paradox, where Mark Streatfield assembles syncopated beats and jerky patterns into fast-moving compositions. We are far from the minimalist dance floor aesthetic of Burial or the heavy pouting of Kode9 here, yet there is something of the urban substance that characterises dubstep, amongst others, filtering down this album.

This is not to say that Streatfield has jumped on the bandwagon and sold out. The eleven tracks making the album all undoubtedly bear the Zainetica stamp. Elegant electronic textures float over complex rhythmic sections, providing effective backdrops for warm melodies to take shape and develop into wonderfully tight sequences. On opener A Distance Between Us, Streatfield juxtaposes sharp electronics, warm analogue soundwaves, voluptuous synthetic strings and a processed electric guitar drone into a slow moving epic. Elsewhere, things may be simpler in appearance, but the impression of wide open space and the emotional depth are intact. Whether it is through the heavy percussions of Madness, the minimal textures of Delicate Wings or the lush and rich Lazy Nelson Days, Streatfield pulls out all the stops and create some of his most compelling work to date. Lazy Nelson Days and People More Fuel, which follows it, also hint at more noise-based experimental work, and while it is difficult to know whether these pre-empts a move toward less welcoming terrains, there is certainly here a dimension that hasn’t quite transpired in much of Streatfield’s past work.

While Mark Streatfield has recently diversified his electronic outputs, first with side project Cyan341, which deals with minimal techno, and more recently, as one quarter of Lowriders Deluxe, his first Rednetic release in years is a confident slice of the finest classic electronica  which will more than satisfy true amateurs of the genre.

4.7/5

Zainetica | Rednetic Recordings

HYBERNATION
Snow Cover
RN015
Rednetic Recordings 2007
06 Tracks. 32mins55secs

The last addition to the Rednetic catalogue for 2007 is Hybernation’s Snow Cover EP. Once a drummer in punk and metal bands, Stuart Bowditch as he is known to the tax office, switched to a laptop in 1999, and he has, since been expanding his sound bank by collecting field recordings from various places and deployed them in his music. He regularly plays live at various events around London and Essex. Snow Cover is his debut EP.

Collecting six slices of moody and slow moving electronica, this EP showcases a series of intricate pieces loosely formed around a wintry theme which, considering the time of the year, is somewhat quite apt.

The EP opens with Acorn, a beat-less vignette which slowly drifts through dreamy soundscapes toward the equally as ethereal shores of PM-AM, building progressively from a sparse sound wave into a gentle melody supported by a rather delicately assembled rhythmic pattern. As Snow Cover progresses, the landscapes become more hospitable. Rociruses wouldn’t look out of place on a Gimmik album, while the minimal stretches of Fellon and Planet Earth occasionally light up as Bowditch injects processed vocals, but the two pieces remain seriously drowsy and don’t manage to shake off the austere atmospheric tone of the record. The EP concludes with 011001 (December Mix), which once again displays a series of gentle electronic structures which lines up nicely with the rest of the Rednetic releases.

Bowditch is said to primarily work on his music during the winter, hence the name, and the six tracks collected here are certainly reminiscent of a considerably slowed down metabolism. There are no superfluous elements in the music, as if, aiming to preserve energy, Bowditch was activating just enough components for a track to form. This is a risky strategy as the music threatens to fall under any noticeable level of activity throughout, but it eventually pays off and reveals Stuart Bowditch as an expert handler of minimal atmospheric settings.

4.1/5

Hybernation (Myspace) | Rednetic Recordings

SHREBER HARBER MOLE FLYING WHEEL
Bloom
RN014
Rednetic Recordings 2007
06 Tracks. 29mins28secs
Format: CDS

Shreber Harber Mole Flying Wheel was formed in 1999 in Tokyo by Saitoh Tomohiro, Yamamoto Shinichiro and Kohno Nagahiro, but, after they released their debut album, Air Comfort, on U-Cover, the trio disbanded, leaving Tomohiro sole in charge since 2005.

Creating wonderfully lush and rich soundscapes, and wrapping them around gentle melodies, Tomohiro presents here a rather sumptuous collection of blissful cinematic electronic music. Right from the onset, he articulates a series of atmospheric sounds, representations of birds and flowing water, before laying a delicate melody over a dense sonic mist. Although it never seems to emerge fully, only revealing sections of its complex formation, the melody is kept to the forefront and, as the piece evolves, is left leading the way.

Bloom, which follows, continues on a similar path, although here, the main theme is covered with a succession of textures, from linear soundwaves to modulations, giving the piece a much clearer abstract angle. Later on, Signals pushes the abstraction further as Tomohiro works from a much more abrasive set of sounds. Here, all traces of melody are erased and the voluptuous soundscapes are replaced with more arid noises.

Calm is, very much as its titles indicates, a rather peaceful and airy piece, on which the path of the melody appears to be decided by the various changes of a gentle springtime breeze, while Twisted introduces a slight psychedelic dimension to this release as melodic swirls and loops gracefully float over a sparkling backdrop. The EP concludes with the warm atmospheric tones of Nord, which, although quite linear in structure, conveys quite a wide array of cinematic impressions.

While the vast landscapes of Bloom may be shrouded in hazy sonic drapes, Tomohiro creates here a rather evocative series of beautiful and luxuriant electronic pieces.

3.4/5

Shreber Harber Mole Flying Wheel | Rednetic Recordings

PATSCAN
Plasticine
RN013
Rednetic Recordings 2007
06 Tracks. 31mins44secs
Format: CDS

Patscan’s Pat Hime grew up in South East London but now lives in Brighton, where he shares his time between his solo project and live techno duo Idiot Pirate, which he formed with Gawain Carey earlier this year. Pat released his solo debut EP, Muddled, on Concrete Plastic in March.

Rounding up electrified electro, voluptuous atmospheric electronica and classic techno, Plasticine is a rather strong and elegant offering from Hime, with enough variety to tickles the mind and enough consistency to channel attention.

The EP kicks off with Patabula, which bubbles up from a single melodic theme into a busy rhythmic motif, making the most of a somewhat rarefied sound pool. Reminiscent of classic early to mid-nineties electronica a la As One, this piece settles the tone for the rest of the EP but certainly doesn’t define it entirely. Sheen and Wangleberry show similarity in the choice of rich textures and luxurious settings, but, while the former takes some time to reveal its game, the latter presents it in a concussed fashion, rendering the elegant overtones in abstract angular chunks. On Tampered Breaks, Hime combines early eighties synth sounds with vivid Detroit moods and Aphex-like beats, while on Gargling Gravel, he layers stuttering beats and melodies into a piece which appears never to start, but manages to asserts its ground all the same.

4/5

Patscan (Myspace) | Rednetic Recordings

VARIOUS ARTISTS
One Point Two: More Digital Listening Music From Rednetic
RN012
Rednetic Recordings 2007
14 Tracks. 72mins58secs

In the last five years, London-based imprint Rednetic have delivered a steady stream of elegant electronic records. While the label’s scope has considerably expanded over the years, the focus has largely remained on classic electronica. The label was set up in 2002 by Mark Streatfield and Joseph Auer, and the first release was Streatfield’s debut album as Zainetica, Escaping Dust. Since, Auer, who had then moved from London to Tokyo, released the Kyoto Tokyo 2001 EP, and further releases by Utility Player, The Vizier Of Damascus, Inigo Kennedy, Tommy Bass and Boltfish co-founders Will ‘Cheju’ Bolton and Murray ‘Mint’ Fisher, amongst others, have firmly established the label as one of London’s best imprints.

In 2004, the One Point One compilation collated tracks by some of the above artists together with offerings from Ochre, Sidechain and F.E.A.R. Three years on, the second instalment in the series harvests a further fourteen tracks of classic electronica and techno, with contributions from Mint, Tommi Bass, Liberation Jumpsuit, Infinite Scale, Boc Scadet, Joseph Auer, Sunosis, Zainetica and many more.

Very much like its predecessor, One Point Two spans a vast array of genres, from the elegant electronic swathes of Boc Scadet’s She Spoke Of The Sky, Zainetica’s Awaken or Sunosis’s Leap and the ambient expanses of Polestar’s Retro Future, Infinite Scale’s Cell Out or The Vizier Of Damascus’s Murmurs to the Detroit-infused offerings from Cheju’s Hubl or Inigo Kennedy’s Faraway Towns to the old style techno of Tommi Bass’ Electro Glitch 2007 and the acid funk of Liberation Jumpsuit’s One Night Stand.

The album kicks off in gently mood with the delicate formations and beats of Mint’s Queasy, but things sharpen up quickly, first with the electric charges inflicted by Tommi Bass, then with the dirty electro funk distilled by Liberation Jumpsuit, before Boc Scadet applies lush dreamy textures and brings One Point Two right back into melodic mode. A perfect reflection of the path followed by Rednetic over the last first years, the album then alternates between delicate pieces (Polestar, Infinite Scale, Joseph Auer) and more upbeat moments (Utility Player, Cheju, Inigo Kennedy).

Rednetic have gained confidence with every release, and the label’s audience has been growing accordingly. This second compilation brings together the many flavours of Rednetic and provides an ideal entry point for one of the most consistent independent imprints around.

Explore: Rednetic Recordings