MAX LODERBAUER Vinyl & CDs

Review: Is Max Loderbauer the most prolific serial collaborator in electronic music? His CV is certainly enough to make anyone envious. Alongside Tom Thiel he gave us the IDM of Sun Electric, Chica And The Folder was co-founded by him and Paula Schopf, Mortiz Von Oswald set up his Trio with this guy (still the longest serving member), with credits also including Heisenberg (with Vladislav Delay), and joints on ECM Records and Honest Jon's Shangaan Electro series with Ricardo Villalobos. In contrast, 'Donnerwetter' marks his second outing on Non Standard Productions (which owes its name to Loderbauer's project with Freund, NSI, or Non Standard Institute), making it very much a individualistic effort in terms of both label and production process. Taking a lead from avant-garde German synth and electronica, it's a masterclass in the subtle joys of ambient.

Review: ***B-STOCK: Creasing and dents to the left corners of the outer sleeve, otherwise in perfect condition***


Is Max Loderbauer the most prolific serial collaborator in electronic music? His CV is certainly enough to make anyone envious. Alongside Tom Thiel he gave us the IDM of Sun Electric, Chica And The Folder was co-founded by him and Paula Schopf, Mortiz Von Oswald set up his Trio with this guy (still the longest serving member), with credits also including Heisenberg (with Vladislav Delay), and joints on ECM Records and Honest Jon's Shangaan Electro series with Ricardo Villalobos. In contrast, 'Donnerwetter' marks his second outing on Non Standard Productions (which owes its name to Loderbauer's project with Freund, NSI, or Non Standard Institute), making it very much a individualistic effort in terms of both label and production process. Taking a lead from avant-garde German synth and electronica, it's a masterclass in the subtle joys of ambient.

Review: Samuel Rohrer's ArjunaMusic has been minimal in its output since 2012's debut from the label-head himself, but what he's put out has been of the highest quality. While both previous releases were strictly CD-only, Ambiq has also been pressed onto LP format. It seems strange that the deep, intricate music on the label hadn't been released on vinyl, but we're not here to question, merely to tell you how great this piece of music is. Buried in a complex shell compred of strands of free jazz, psyched-out electronics and ambient, this is as experimental as it gets. Starting from the opener, "Erdkern", we're thrown head-first into a melodic frenzy, one which expands and contracts from more rigid structures such as "Tund" and dissolves back into the abyss. The breaks on "Touching The Present" are stupendous. So great to see that the free jazz dynasty has evolved into brighter, more contemporary spheres.

Review: As time passes, the increasingly prolific partnership of Ricardo Villalobos and Max Loderbauer moves farther into the wilderness, both artists emboldened by their shared sense of adventure and peerless skill. Here, on this LP for Mana, they're shrugging off all shackles in an exploration of synthesis on a molecular level. What's so thrilling is that patterns and rhythms do emerge from within this primordial soup, winding up in some of the most gorgeous and beguiling works we've tripped on for some time. Otherworldly, but somehow grounded with an earthly instinctive-ness, "The Clouds Know" will take time to wrap your head around, but therein lies the beauty.

Review: ***B-STOCK: Sleeve damaged but otherwise in excellent condition***


As time passes, the increasingly prolific partnership of Ricardo Villalobos and Max Loderbauer moves farther into the wilderness, both artists emboldened by their shared sense of adventure and peerless skill. Here, on this LP for Mana, they're shrugging off all shackles in an exploration of synthesis on a molecular level. What's so thrilling is that patterns and rhythms do emerge from within this primordial soup, winding up in some of the most gorgeous and beguiling works we've tripped on for some time. Otherworldly, but somehow grounded with an earthly instinctive-ness, "The Clouds Know" will take time to wrap your head around, but therein lies the beauty.

Review: Some years back former Sun Electric member (and regular Ricardo Villalobos collaborator) packed up his Buchla synthesizer and headed to Vladislav Delay's studio. While the Finnish producer has previously mined these experimental analogue recordings for single releases, Roadblocks marks the first time he's turned them into an entire album of unusual, leftfield techno treats. The eight tracks are wild and wonderful concoctions in which unusual percussion sounds are overlaid with buzzing electronic sounds, odd modular bleeps, fractured snapshots of 1970s synthesizer melodies and all manner of Radiophonic Workshop style sounds. This is techno from another dimension altogether, combining cutting edge experimental instincts and contemporary production nous with noises that sound as far-out now as they would have done when the Buchla was invented.