Cerca:11 am

Tremor erscheint zu einem Zeitpunkt, an dem Averys Arbeitspensum für Außenstehende kolossal erscheint. Als Produzent, DJ, Musiker und Remixer, der ständig mit anderen zusammenarbeitet, hat er kürzlich DRONE:NODRONE von The Cure neu interpretiert, wofür er allgemeine Anerkennung erhielt. Seine Arbeit als eines von drei Mitgliedern von Demise of Love (eine Gruppe, die gemeinsam mit Ghost Culture und Working Men’s Club gegründet wurde) liefert derzeit den Soundtrack für die verschwommenen, undurchsichtigen Ränder der Tanzflächen auf der ganzen Welt. Das Album ist Averys erste Veröffentlichung bei Domino.

Die Platte ist voller unerwarteter Kollaborationen, darunter: Yeule, Art School Girlfriend, Ryan von bdrmm, Yune Pinku, Cécile Believe, Walter Schreifels von Rival Schools, Julie von New Dad und Alison Mosshart. „Tremor” wurde teilweise von David Wrench und teilweise vom legendären Alan Moulder gemischt. Es ist ein Breitwand-Album, auf dem sich Daniel mehr denn je auf Instrumentierung stützt und diese Klänge mit seiner charakteristischen, dunklen, techno-ähnlichen Produktion ergänzt. Es gibt wunderschöne melodische Parts, große elektronische Hits, härtere Grunge-Parts und wunderschöne Ambient-Momente, die einen wieder zur Ruhe kommen lassen.

Damit eins gleich klar ist: Auf FARIN URLAUBs zweitem Album ist erst mal Schluss mit lustig.
Es dauert ganze vier Verse, und ein unmissverständliches „Feuer frei“ legt einem nahe, den Kopf für den
Rest des Albums lieber unten zu halten … und besser isses, denn es wird fortan konsequent mit der Gitarre
niedergemäht, was nicht in geduckter Haltung hinterm umgekippten Esstisch kauert*. Sogar die SkaAnleihen klingen nach Ska-ta-ta-ta-ta.
Und Pustekuchen für jeden, der glaubt, sich am wohlvertrauten Sound durch das hangeln zu können, was
da auf einen niederhagelt.
Da kommt einer eigenständig – aber diesmal nicht allein. FARIN URLAUB schart erstmals Teile seines
„Orchester voll Dynamit“ um sich, das ihn fortan live begleitet: Zwar spielt er – Bläser ausgenommen –
wieder alle Instrumente selbst ein, doch die Damen vom RACING TEAM leihen ihm diesmal ihre Stimmen.
Kein Wunder also, dass AM ENDE DER SONNE schnurstracks auf die 1 ging.
URLAUB hat ein fieses Album in eine fiese Welt geworfen. Eine Welt, über der ein teilnahmsloser Lichtball
prangt, um irdisches Elend unbarmherzig auszuleuchten („Sonne“). Eine Welt, in der man’s nicht einmal
mehr schafft, das Meer romantisch zu verklären („Unter Wasser“), weil man vom eigenen Haushalt mit
Anlauf aufs Maul kriegt („Dusche“), während einer mit dem Schraubenschlüssel rhythmisch auf die Heizung
hämmert.
Die 180-Gramm-Vinyl-Wiederveröffentlichung von AM ENDE DER SONNE erscheint am 21.11.2025 mit
Downloadcode.
*) Das Album ist nicht nur gewaltig, es ist auch großzügig, denn eventuell gibt’s einen Hidden-Track.

Amazing Things is an album about death which isn't morose, slow, or quiet. A year ago Darren lost a friend to cancer. Amazing Things is an album about death which isn't morose, slow, or quiet. Instead, it is packed with joyful, melodic guitars and some of Darren's prettiest tunes. It is sometimes very sad, but also heartfelt, loving, and rewarding. Darren recorded the album almost entirely solo and this time he has dug deep into his primary instrument, the electric guitar, creating a sound that is rich in tone and texture. Darren Hayman is a British songwriter best known for his work with late 90s band Hefner, but has since made more than 20 albums dealing with astronauts, the English Civil War, William Morris, Lidos, and Thankful Villages. He lives in South London with his dog.

Inhale. Exhale. Remember to breathe. In that rhythm lies the pulse of being - the ancient echo of stars from which we are made. Breathing is the bridge between the inner cosmos and the outer void. When you breathe, you testify to existence itself: "I am." The Moonrover - a child of reason - abandoned on the cold, dead Moon. It does not feel time, know fear, or comprehend solitude. But a human, in its place, would understand: Silence is not emptiness. It is a mirror. And in that mirror arises the question: "If I am alone, and silence is infinite - who hears my breath?" The answer lies in the breath. Each inhale is resistance against entropy. Each exhale is an act of remembrance. To breathe is to remember that you are not just part of the Universe - you are its awakened part. And just as the Moonrover crawls across grey lunar plains, driven by an unknown purpose, so do you move through life, led by an inner light, until you realize: breath is not just life. It is a prayer sent into silence. And if you can hear it - you are alive.

Talk Show is a new duo collaboration featuring Steph Richards on trumpets and resonating surfaces and Qasim Naqvi on drums, almglocken bells and modular synthesizer. Having worked together on other projects for almost two decades, Miss America, released by We Jazz Records, marks their first, pure duo collaboration - a space to engage with a sonic language they"ve been cultivating together for years. The album was recorded live, with Qasim crafting real-time electronics and drum set work, and Steph using trumpets and resonating percussion to summon sympathetic vibrations and otherworldly sounds through timpani, snare and water. The trumpet sounds electronically processed, though every sound is acoustic. Both artists wanted to retain the live nature of their process, so what you hear is virtually untouched.

Amand returns to All Day I Dream alongside Belgian newcomer Capoon for their collaborative two-track Ouverture EP. The release arrives with a bonus remix from producer/DJ Khen.

Guided by a shared sense of musical storytelling, Amand and Capoon find common ground in organic instrumentation and cinematic rhythm. Across its two movements, Ouverture unfolds like a passage through dusk and dawn part meditative, part ascendant. The title track’s first part opens in a space of gentle introspection, carried by fluid percussion and softly woven synths. Its counterpart rises with quiet momentum, layering melodic phrasing, captivating vocals, and subtle rhythmic tension into a transportive finale. It’s a delicate and dreamy 12-minute journey that encapsulates the wondrous imagination of All Day I Dream curation.

Khen’s remix expands the emotional arc further, blending the original’s warmth with his signature precision and dynamic melodic control. The result feels both grounded and dreamlike, aligning seamlessly with the label’s ethos of soulful progression and timeless sound design.

Born from a profound devotion to the piano and a reverence for the organic flow of life, byt’ surprises listeners by presenting "paths of sand", a remarkable creation by Amsterdam-based composer xico, offering sound and soul to those willing to listen beyond the surface.

Through the magic of experimentation, xico captured the fleeting beauty of the muse of improvisation, as described by Nachmakovich, transforming the ephemeral into something lasting. Performances recorded on the same old piano during the 2023 Kaalstaart Festival in the Netherlands have since evolved into a fully realized work. A journey of nearly three years of dedicated silence that began with Telva’s intuitive recognition of xico’s voice, starting with an invitation to her radio show and blossoming into a captivating fascination with what unfolded. This process led to the art of shaping the selected live recordings into a collector’s item, now materialized as a limited edition of 200 pressed vinyl copies, forever remaining as an artistic memento.

Perfectly attuned to the energy of the autumn equinox, paths of sand unfolds as an intimate reflection of music’s ability to hold what cannot be held, to speak what cannot besaid, and to embody what can never be described.

xico is a sound artist and improviser from Ibiza whose work explores the merging point between disruptive and post-natural soundscapes, crafting immersive sonic environments through compositions that unfold like ecosystems.

Encouraged by an understanding of chance as nature’s and awareness' most accessible voice, he focuses on creating generative live-sets with varying degrees of unpredictability. For him, subordinating human intention to nature’s order is a conscious choice, and making art through this lens becomes a statement and a spiritual practice. With his distinctive touch, his compositions resonate with the world in unexpected and profound ways, offering experiences you may never have heard before.

Anthology 4 - Triple LP. The new volume from The Beatles Anthology Collection.

Anthology 4, is newly curated by Giles Martin, including 13 previously unreleased demos, plus fascinating session and other rare recordings dating from 1963 to 1969. It also includes the band’s final single, ‘Now And Then’, released in 2023, and new mixes of The Beatles’ Anthology-associated hit singles: the GRAMMY-winning ‘Free As A Bird’ and ‘Real Love’, given new life by their original producer, Jeff Lynne, using de-mixed John Lennon vocals. Furthermore, Anthology 4 presents 26 tracks that have never previously been released on vinyl.

The track notes are written by Kevin Howlett with an introduction compiled from 1996 interviews recorded with The Beatles’ close friend and adviser Derek Taylor.

Pressed on 180g black vinyl, the triple LP is housed within poly-lined inner bags and a triple gatefold sleeve.

Four decades on, "Around The World In A Day" has been newly remastered in stereo by Bernie Grundman and is available on limited-edition 140g blue marble vinyl. The record ultimately yielded four commercial singles: “Raspberry Beret” with its spectacular kaleidoscopic video featuring Prince in a suit inspired by the clouds and sky on the sleeve, “Paisley Park” (released only overseas), “Pop Life”, and “America”.

Four decades on, "Around The World In A Day" has been newly remastered in stereo by Bernie Grundman and is available on 140g black vinyl. The record ultimately yielded four commercial singles: “Raspberry Beret” with its spectacular kaleidoscopic video featuring Prince in a suit inspired by the clouds and sky on the sleeve, “Paisley Park” (released only overseas), “Pop Life”, and “America”.

Four decades on, "Around The World In A Day" has been newly remastered in stereo by Bernie Grundman. The Deluxe Edition of the album, available on 140g 3LP formats, features the extended versions of the A & B sides with the remix of “Paisley Park” along with the extended version of “Girl” and “Hello (Fresh Dance Mix)” and the nearly 22-minute 12” version of “America”.

Nachdem sie sich Mitte der 60er Jahre gegründet und nach und nach ihren Sound gefunden hatten, haben sich A Bolha mit ihrer Mischung aus verzerrten Riffs und einer knallharten, gefühlvollen Rhythmusgruppe einen einzigartigen Platz in der brasilianischen Underground-Szene erobert. Sem Nada kam 1971 raus, als Arnaldo Brandao am Bass war und die Band am härtesten und trippigsten war.

“In a concert, I show something with a beginning, a middle and an end. But, there is no end. Of course, there is no end. Because I am the music, and I am still here.” - Sophie Agnel

‘Learning’ - Sophie Agnel’s first solo LP, feels like the dark, physical inversion of her excellent ‘Song’ which came out on Relative Pitch earlier this year. Sinking her unique sound into vinyl for the first time, the LP arrives as Agnel recovers from a brain tumour - a shocking discovery that will require Agnel to start again with the piano. It’s a terrifying prospect, but Agnel has been here before, having reorientated herself almost entirely away from her early classical training over the last 4 decades of her work.

‘When I was young I had very good ears, oriole absolute. Then later I began to make strange sounds with my piano, to do different kinds of music. I was more interested in the sounds than the melody, for example. I remember once I sat down in a shop to try to read the scores of Schubert and there was a light emitting a very strong bzzzzzzz. And I couldn't listen to my oriole internal - I couldn't read the score. I was entirely subjugated by the sound of the light. And I understood that something had changed. Ten years before I could read and not hear the light. Now I understood that my ears were completely different. I was more open to the sounds of life.”

Born in Paris in the 60’s and playing her parents piano as soon as she could stand up, Agnel quickly grew tired of the classical world. What frustrated her was the strange disconnect between the frame of the piano and its keyboard - a weird boundary that seemed to form some hushed code of etiquette. “The first thing I put inside the piano was a plastic goblet. I’d seen a few pianists do it: Fred Van Hove, for example, put rubber balls inside his. But what didn’t appeal to me was that there seemed to be no link between the pianos outside and inside.”If you see Agnel play now, the body of her piano is littered with fish tins, ping pong balls, wooden blocks - not that you’d recognize their sounds. Having absorbed the language of the European avant-garde, Agnel is known for pulling the piano’s interior outside of itself by tipping her handbag into it. But these ‘strange sounds’ don’t just come from Cage - they also share the poetic force of Cecil Taylor and ‘Learning’ demonstrates that Agnel’s work on the piano's keyboard is just as important as what she’s littered on its strings. The record lets loose her ability to unleash a formidable sound mass and then rope it back to one single, clarifying note. With one hand, Agnel plays 88 tuned drums and on the other an enormous guitar - with the LP rotating through oncoming trains, and blues harmonica and feedback. It’s single minded stuff, borne out of a dedication to a wholly personal language of gesture, accumulation and deft reduction. “Maybe when I’m 80 I will not need anything,” Agnel says in a recent film made at her home. “I will do the same but with one note, and one finger. Maybe it's enough.”

‘Learning’ arrives in a reverse board sleeve designed by Jereon Wille. Recorded live at Cafe OTO by Billy Steiger on 6th June 2023 and 4th June 2024. Mixed by James Dunn and Benjamin Pagier. Side B edited by Benjamin Pagier. Mastered and cut by Loop-O. Front photograph by Aimé Agnel. Typography and layout by Jeroen Wille.

For his last solo record ‘Through a Room’, Bill Nace shifted his usual saturated guitar sound and added tapes, hurdy gurdy, doughnut pipe, bird calls and the mysterious Japanese taishōgoto. Setting up for the final night of his three day residency at OTO with only the taishōgoto soundchecked, Nace hoped that Parker would arrive with his small soprano as its opposite. “I’ve been interested in state change, you know, playing until there’s a shift in time.” Known for his development of multiphonics to produce a constantly shifting pattern, Evan Parker has evolved an instantly recognizable sound - his work the soprano most distinct. Happily, it was the soprano Evan brought with him and as soon as the two start to play they entwine - taking off in a double helix of keys and reed primed for endless reconfiguration. Space warps under the velocity of playing, the pitch rising unrelentingly. It felt like unending lift off in the room, sheer energy until the last note makes remember your feet have been on the floor the whole time. Total time bending shredding.

–

"They had never played together before. They had never even met each other before this springtime 2024 concert at London’s Café Oto.

Evan Parker, circular breathing maestro of the saxophone, a legend in the universe that is Free Improvisation since the late 1960s and Bill Nace, one of the most intriguing experimental “noise” guitarists of the 1990s/2000s underground scene.

For those of us who have been enamored by the live and documented work of both these gents, this Café Oto duo was a must-hear event. It could have gone anywhere musically and that would have been totally fine. Particularly with Evan having a history of being thrown into a variety of challenging collaborations throughout his career, employing the learned elegance of trust in his own sensitivity to listening, responding, leading, following, sparring, intertwining, dialoguing, creating in the instant and, essentially, dignifying the non-hierarchical grace of chance.

The aesthetics of socialist consideration in Evan Parker’s playing, in his community of expanded and personal technique, for a younger player such as Bill Nace, strikes an exemplary model. This notion of respect would be entirely the reason Nace, when offered a residency at the most critical “new music” room in England, would request to play in duo with Parker.

Bill Nace came to prominence mostly during the apex of experimental music activity in and around Western Massachusetts in the early days of the aughts, with a focus on visual art and free improvisation guitar action. He could be found in the daytime hours, his head hanging down over a notepad, penning fine-tuned illustrations and abstract line drawings, while in the evenings he’d be attending any number of basement noise gigs, many of which he’d be participating in. His guitar style came across as being informed as much as by the physicality of his writing utensils in friction to the page as it was to his hearing and redefining of radical recordings ranging anywhere from the Black Unity Group to Black Flag.

Utilizing various metal files and other small cylindrical objects Bill would allow his guitar and amplifier to be in tandem with the improvisatory movements of his body as the instrument balanced, intentionally and, at times, precariously, upon his lap. The performances came across thrilling and daring and they would be mostly in the context of venues nothing more than a low-ceilinged damp and dank New England basement, a clutch of people hanging onto rusty pipes or sitting up on dilapidated washer/dryer machines, the shards of Bill’s “file guitar” sounds ringing out like the most alive music on Earth.

By the time Bill reached Café Oto in early 2024 he had relocated to Philadelphia all the while releasing a succession of collaborative LPs on his Open Mouth label to present his developing progression of solo and collaborative work. He also would find himself considerably engaged with playing the electric taishōgoto, a keyboard-activated string instrument from Japan which can exist as a one, two, four, five, or six string oblong sound object. Bill’s approach to the taishōgoto would not be too unlike his approach to the traditional electric guitar, though no outboard implements such as files, sticks, and rocks are utilized. The similarity would lie wholly with Bill’s full immersion of high velocity action-playing where, with the taishōgoto, an electric drone beauty occurs. The flurry of sonics and resultant harmonics emanating from the amplifier (which Bill opts to dial into with borderline loud-as fuck volume settings) furthers the meta-mantra properties of the instrument in an astounding display of drone dynamism.

This sound world of Bill’s two-stringed taishōgoto on this Café Oto night worked beautifully with Evan Parker’s improvisatory saxophone conceptions. The duology achieved instant lift off at ground zero only to find it’s eventual finale as if it were organically ordained. Time seemingly morphed from its ancient human construct of control, rendered inconsequential to the torrential transcendence of the room wildly activated by the magic resonance of the multi-directional pan-spatial sonance of the music as if it were some beatific blessing. It was one of those nights where art as a liberating force of spirit gifted the listeners with an offering of exaltation and joy. It was entirely mystical and mind blowing. A night of Total Music."

Thurston Moore, London, 2025

I Am An Instrument Vol. 1 was recorded live in Copenhagen Denmark and what you hear is 100% improvised music. When the band performs there is nothing planned, except for which one of the members will start the song. After the initial note, it is everything goes. There were no edits in post production so what you hear is what you heard at the venue back in 2019.

40 Years COSMIC PSYCHOS, 40 years dirty, mean, simple, garagey punk rock & roll! EU pressing of the guys seminal 1991 album, the first for Amphetamine Reptile Records back then Noisy alternative punk rock from Down Under for fans of Stiff Richards, The Chats, Nashville Pussy, Supersuckers, Hard -Ons, AmpRep, early Sub Pop "As 1990 set in, Jones vacated the guitar spot. Knight and Walsh asked their friend Robbie Watts, a self-taught guitarist, to join the fold. Watts said yes and Cosmic Psychos ventured to Wisconsin to record their third full-length release at producer Butch Vig's Smart Studios. Released in 1991, Blokes You Can Trust was the band's first record for the American noise rock label Amphetamine Reptile, after the bandmembers became drinking buddies with label head Tom Hazelmeyer. ... The Psychos conducted a European tour during which they developed an unusual trademark. After seeing many other rock bands take bows after performances, at the end of a show in Potsdam, Germany, Cosmic Psychos decided to alter the tradition by pulling down their pants and mooning the unsuspecting audience." - Do we have to say more? Classic.

»Lilac« is the first Donna Regina album since 2019’s »Transient.« The world has changed considerably since then, which has also left its mark on the Berlin indie pop duo. The songs released as part of the 2021 single »Welt in einer Stadt« (»World in a City«) for Karaoke Kalk had already dealt with the pandemic-induced standstill and its effects on urban space, and also the rest of the album shows that Günther and Regina Janssen have been influenced by recent social and political developments. »In ›Lilac,‹ I imagine good ol’ Earth as a big ol’ bear shaking us off because it can’t stand us anymore,« says Regina Janssen. It has become a serious album, Günther affirms, but he is also adamant that it is not a sad one. Musically, Donna Regina have remained true to the spirit of their early work, recently re-released by Karaoke Kalk: their arrangements are as minimalist as they are emotionally rich.

»The music is always there,« says Regina Janssen about the creation of the tracks on »Lilac.« As always, the two record their music »track by track and without computers,« as Günther notes. Samples play a smaller role this time than on earlier albums, with analogue instruments such as a monophonic synthesiser and, above all, guitars coming to the fore again. This frames lyrics that are being delivered by Regina in German, English, or in both languages. They delve even further into the intricacies of urban life. »Cities are underrated! What a civilisational achievement it is to have so many people living under one sky,« says Regina. »They constantly put you in touch with the unfamiliar. Sometimes they’ll be overwhelming, and they are always alive.« This ambivalence shapes the tone of the album that ponders on the state of the world today.

Starting with the ominous sounds of »Whole World In My Town,« through the dreamscapes of »Autumn In Paris,« to the elegiac conclusion of »No More Roses,« Regina and Günther Janssen move through different timbres and styles with a few select means. Their preference for minimalist electronics becomes evident at times, while elsewhere the pieces open up to balladic arrangements in which the guitar plays a leading role. This turns »Lilac« into a city by itself, the songs forming its soundscape: every neighbourhood looks different, every street has its own character.

Manchmal geht einfach alles POP! Fall in Love Again with "Balloon Balloon Balloon"! Unterwerfung. Das ist das Wort, das mir in den Sinn kommt, wenn ich mich mit Kai Slaters Sharp Pins auf den überwältigenden Pop-Planeten begebe. Das Universum funktioniert nur, wenn man sich unterwirft: sich der Liebe unterwirft, sich der Rockmusik unterwirft. Sich der Kraft zu unterwerfen, die von einem Jungen ausgeht, der seine Gitarre schwingt, um makellosen Gitarrenpop zu kreieren, der ins Pantheon der Idole gehört, zu denen er mit diesem Album aufsteigt. Natürlich ist es verständlich, dass man zunächst wütend ist. Alle waren wütend auf Big Star, weil sie den Beatles zu nahe kamen. Und alle werden wütend auf Sharp Pins sein, weil sie dasselbe tun und dann noch Guided by Voices mit ins Spiel bringen. Wie kann er es wagen? Diese Überheblichkeit. Welcher 20-Jährige glaubt, er könne Robert Pollard übertrumpfen? ,Queen of Globes and Mirrors?" Ein Verbrechen. Mit dem noch schlimmeren Verbrechen, Songs zu schreiben, die so rätselhaft zeitlos sind, dass man glauben könnte, sie seien aus einem verlorenen Beatles-Band gestohlen worden. ,I Don't Have the Heart" und ,(I Want to) Be Your Girl" lassen einen wirklich im Unklaren darüber, wann und wo sie entstanden sind. Aber wenn der Lo-Fi-Noise-Pop von "Balloon Balloon Balloon" uns an etwas erinnert, dann daran, dass nur Kai das kann. Mit seiner 12-saitigen Gitarre und seiner unermüdlichen Besessenheit von Popmusik ist Slater einzigartig ausgestattet, um nicht nur von Pollard und Chilton das Erbe anzutreten, sondern auch den Byrds, den Temptations, den Four Tops und allen anderen Künstlern nachzufolgen, die versuchen, die wahre Liebe auf Band zu bannen. Er wendet die Taktik ,um Vergebung bitten, nicht um Erlaubnis" an, wenn er sich bei diesen Größen bedient, und uns bleibt nichts anderes übrig, als Slater zu vergeben, dass er uns diese Rock'n'Roll-Juwelen schenkt, die er aus der Vergangenheit in eine Zukunft katapultiert, die so melodisch makellos und doch kantig und aufrichtig ist, dass wir ihm auch dafür danken müssen, dass er das Genre vor der Bedeutungslosigkeit bewahrt hat. Denn was Slater hinzufügt, ist ganz und gar sein Eigen. Eine unbeschreibliche Sensibilität für das Songwriting, die trotz der zahlreichen Anleihen nur ihm gehören kann. Am Ende des Albums schluckt man jegliche Wut oder Ungläubigkeit, die man vielleicht hatte, und akzeptiert, dass Sharp Pins wirklich so gut sind. Auf diesem umfangreichen, aber niemals überladenen Album erschafft Slater eine Welt voller kleiner Pop-Perlen, die so einfach und dumm gut sind, dass sie uns daran erinnern, dass eine andere Welt möglich ist. Denn es ist nicht nur so, dass die Songs unmöglich aus dem Kopf gehen, was sie auch sind. Es ist Slaters eigene Hingabe an dieses Streben nach dem perfekten Popsong, die uns glauben lässt, dass dies nicht nur möglich ist, sondern auch ausreicht, um dem Leben wieder Form und Farbe zu geben. Fall in Love Again ist keine Empfehlung, sondern eine Verpflichtung. Nicht nur gegenüber einem schönen Mädchen, von denen es auf dem Album viele gibt, sondern gegenüber der Welt selbst. Vielleicht ist es dann möglich, die Zukunft zu erreichen, von der der 20-jährige Slater selbst träumt, aber bis dahin haben wir seine Liebesbriefe an den Rock'n'Roll und die Welt um ihn herum, die uns Gesellschaft leisten.

GATEFOLD DOUBLE VINYL WITH SPOT UV FRONT COVER

Following the skewed-unself-help-brilliance of ‘Sus Dog’ (which marked his first full foray into songs, abetted by Thom Yorke), and its companion piece ‘Cave Dog’, Chris Clark returns to the dancefloor’s simple, but no less affecting pleasures, with ‘Steep Stims’.
“I found it hard to pull away from listening to this record, hard to stop making it, I had to remove myself from the Stims and stop enjoying it at some point. The album feels like nature to me. I love it when electronic music feels more naturalistic than acoustic music, more potent, that’s the devil’s trick, the promise of electronic music.” comments Chris.
“I used an old synth - the Virus on all of the tracks. I used it at Mess in Melbourne - run by my friend Robin Fox - I loved it so much I had to buy one when I got back to the UK, it took a while to find. They’re a bit clunky to program but make some of my most favourite sounds.”
‘Steep Stims’ marks a back-to-basics approach, invoking the early years of gung-ho creativity enforced by limitations in technology at the time. “Most of the tracks on this album capture the spirit of making music on old samplers, which don’t have much memory time”, explains Clark. “It reminds me of making ‘Clarence Park’, my first album, where I would have to finish tunes in the session, as they would be saved on floppy disks and I couldn’t easily go between tracks. This new record is just a few synths and a few choice sounds; the writing is the important thing.”
Made quickly, ‘Steep Stims’ reflects the immediate rave energy of his live show, but that’s not to say it’s basic floor fodder, as it’s rife with personality, synth magic, and knack for melody. Although swift and impressionistically captured rather than laboured over, it’s still formidably deft, with plenty of oddball weirdness lurking beneath the dancefloor.
Soft, orange, scorched, brutal, the opening track ‘Gift and Wound’ captures the classic dance music dread / awe / euphoria combo perfectly, before ‘Infinite Roller’ merges sparkly-minimalism with snarling bass and soft sines, which turn more dense and metallic as it progresses.
The melancholic smoke belch of ‘No Pills U’ gives strong classic vibrations, which is belied by its creation, made in just 20 minutes. “I love working quickly sometimes”, comments Clark. “Inspiration hits, rough and ready. It’s off the cuff but also screams ‘don’t gild the lily with nonsense, keep it simple keep it clean’”. Segueing into its elder brother, the piece becomes bigger and beatier on ‘Janus Modal’, where it permutates for over 7 minutes of fluttering, beatific club majesty.
At ‘18EDO Bailiff’ you inexplicably find yourself at a clearing, things have suddenly got much quieter. You enter a decrepit and eerie old house, and as you move through its unsettling interior, you arrive at ‘Globecore Flats’. A real piano tuned to 18 notes per octave gives the pair of tracks a haunted, olde worlde feel, which promptly gets eaten by a huge tech step tearout monster, birthing a strange but exotic beast.
The white hot ‘Blowtorch Thimble’ is all hooktasm-rave-hyper-amen-energy, whilst acidic flute leaps around like Ian Anderson on pingers throughout the catchily simple jump-up lurch of ‘Civilians’.
“‘In Patient’s Day Out’ is like some sort of Morricone-does-kraut-rock-with-drum-machines, but that’s probably just in my head” says Clark. “I made several versions of this then went with the early mix but cranked through some choice outboard because it just had something.”
Drumless, yet still full of exhilarating-big-trance-drama, ‘Who Booed The Goose’ flashes by in stroboscopic fast forward, then ‘5 Millionth Cave Painting’ gives a palate cleanser, letting “the virus with its delicious broken, luxurious reverb have a moment”, before ‘Negation Loop’ swoops down in all its glory, with Clark’s tweaked vocals leading deconstructed trance breakdowns, tape edits and brutal noisebursts.
An antidote to the bombast of its predecessor is ‘Micro Lyf’, which closes the set on a poignant note, of sorts. Muted staccato gives way to field recordings “that gradually put it in this outside space; alien in a meadow somewhere nameless. It feels like a sinkhole. The record kinda swallows itself up and then is gone”, ends Chris.