Review: Carsten Nicolai returns to his NOTON label with a new album of Alva Noto work, exercising his trademark minimalist glitch through the prism of a soundtrack to a theatre piece developed in 2021 for Swiss writer Simon Stone's Komplizen. As well as his usual fusion of stark, clinical soundscapes and pointillist digital impulses, Nicolai folds in delicate piano and compositional elements which invoke more tangible emotions than you might often associate with his solo work, perhaps taking some cues from his collaborations with the late, great Ryuicihi Sakamoto. Presented as a double LP release, this is a freshly romantic slant on the Alva Noto story encased within his unmistakable soundworld.
Too High To Play Bear's Campout (feat Brin) (7:35)
One4G
Review: No prizes for guessing the source of inspiration behind Leaving Records founder Matthewdavid's latest psyched out ambient odyssey, On Mushrooms is an immersive trip in itself but actually serves as precursor to the producer's forthcoming album, Mycelium Music, due to arrive in the coming months. An homage to the natural phenomena not just of hallucinogenic shrooms, but the bond between people and the natural world, and the hidden connections of that world. "When you go out for mushrooms in the hills of California there is an experience in which you wander for hours, scanning low until your eyes are fatigued and then suddenly there is a break in the chaparral and a cluster of immaculate King Boletes appears before you, posed with an almost hieratic intensity," says Matthewdavid. If you pay close attention to that moment of perception, it is almost always accompanied by a telepathic whispering voice that says: 'Oh hello, we've been waiting for you'."
Review: DJ Balduin is back with a new long player some five years after his last. This one comes on Kann Records and is another tasteful trip into the depths of electronic music with trip hop, breakbeat, ambient, tech house and techno all colouring the grooves. Importantly it is steeped in emotion with each of the well crafted sounds hitting a perfect sweet spot. Core to this is the artist's ability to craft perfect loops that can roll for days and never grate. "He doesn't like to think in categories," says the press text. "By reinterpreting genre-specific elements, discovering unheard soundscapes and with a good portion of nostalgia, he sculpts little stories that vibe on dance floors and in living rooms alike." Amen to that.
Review: If you've ever been luck enough to attend the Freerotation music festival than plenty about this remix package will make sense. Not least the interpretation by event co-founder and modular synth hero Steevio, here delivering a remix on vinyl for the first time. Bringing in elements of jazz, ambient, field recordings, dub, house music and - albeit barely audible - subtle shades of tech, it's a sophisticated package that fully buys into the theory of electronic sounds being a form of high art. Running the gamut from the stepping, poised but decidedly free spirited 'Lucid' and Deadbeat's tense, drone-y take on'Sam Gimignano', to the lush keys and white noise of Andrea Cicheki's redo of 'Siegfried 2.0' and Dr Nojoke's beautifully blissed out smoky house, it's as dense as it is accomplished.
Review: After four years of work fusing acoustic and electronic sound worlds, Rand finally unveiled the fruits of their labours with Peripherie. The duo of concert pianist Jan Gerdes and minimal techno producer Dr. Nojoke have cooked up urban and sensitive music for piano and electronics that was all recorded live with no overdubs back in 2019 at Berlin's Chez-Cherie Studios. It was made across three pianos with improvisation at the heart of the process. It's a great collision of worlds, from dark and intense pieces of pulsing techno to more light and hopeful and empty soundscapes that perfectly blur the edges between the different tools used. Fans of Nils Frahm, Alva Noto and Ryuichi Sakamoto will enjoy digging into this one.
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