Son Of Rose – All In – Blanket Fields CD

Artist: Son Of Rose

Title: All In

Label: Blanket Fields

Cat No.: BF001

Format: CD – Edition of 700 hand numbered copies

I’m really happy to have snagged a copy of this first release from Kamran Sadeghi’s own Blanket Fields imprint. As Son Of Rose you may well have come across him on Yann Novak’s Dragon’s Eye label so you instantly know what sort of pedigree you’re looking at here. And this self-released CD is an absolute belter I must say.

I’ve been enjoying it for some time and really, you’re in for a treat here. I’m guessing that for a lot of you the intro track alone will be enough to instantly grab you and draw you very happily inside – it certainly was for me. It features a luscious chord sound that has a wave motion with lots of movement within the ostensibly static feel. But then it adds in a background sound and texture that complement the main chord so perfectly that it all clicks into place. And then some! From there it’s a journey through immaculate design and mood with a variety of feelings and tones making themselves known. There’s a skillful touch at work here and you can hear it in the crisp structure of the processed sounds that all combine to make some seriously beautiful pieces.

From straight-up gorgeous ambience and even a nod or two to proper electronica (and, in fact on one track I believe there’s a distinctly Detroit-styled flavour to the chords) right through to abstract, yet still coherent and sublime drones that either rumble in a bass-heavy fashion or envelop you in drapes of warm sound. Add in some almost electro-acoustic elements and you have an album that’s incredibly well rounded and manages to sit between various different sub-genres of the modern electronic sound.

I adore this album I have to say and I guess it’s not going to take a genius to work out that I’m recommending it to you in the highest possible way. A seriously good album.

Quantec – Journey Of Mind

Artist: Quantec

Title: Journey Of Mind

Label: Silent Season

Cat No.: SSCD04

Format: CDr – Edition of 100 hand numbered copies

I’ll start off this review by saying that I believe this is Quantec’s best work since his wonderful Quietus release – without a shadow of a doubt in fact. It’s good to hear him putting out this layered, atmospheric and predominantly ambient kind of sound and I really think it suits the style of his music as well as being perfect for the label. That’s not to say it doesn’t have beats, of course, because it does, but they’re in that low-key, unobtrusive style that allows you to just get on with the serious business of feeling the sounds and enjoying the space and form.

One thing that’s quite clear from the outset is that this is a deeply hypnotic set of tracks and there’s a distinct split between ambient flow, a lightly drone-esque feel and then those trademark 4/4 sections. If you check out the samples you’ll hear it immediately – you’ll be taken in and enveloped in a single chord which resonates serenely before being gently nudged by an insistent pulsating rhythm in the next track. The overall feel is of darkness and melancholy which is exactly the way I like it and even though it has an expansive texture I’ll stress that at all times there’s room all over the place for the sound design to shine through.

There are highlights, naturally, and they come in the shape of the haunting, disembodied voice in ‘The Unknown’ which is beautifully spooky when combined with the chord and static that accompanies it. The seemingly static groove of ‘Depth Of Immersion’ is another as it rolls along dreamily with more reverb than is probably legally allowed in a track like this – talk about echoes! And the final track ‘Atmospheric Noise’ is just straight-up a killer slice of thoughtful minimalism par excellence. But as ever with this kind of music it’s about the whole journey rather than the individual moments – you’ll find your favourite bits, I’m sure, but it all gels together into yet another wonderful album of the highest calibre.

Mastered by Relapxych.0 and strictly limited to 100 copies, this is *definitely* not one to miss out on. Superb work.

Porzellan – The Fourth Level Of Comprehension

Artist: Porzellan

Title: The Fourth Level Of Comprehension

Label: Hibernate Records

Cat No.: HB03

Format: CDr – Edition of 150 copies

If the name Porzellan seems familiar, you may well have come across his name on the excellent Duckbay, Slow Flow and Parvo Art compilations that have come out in the last year. I’m absolutely adoring this album I have to say and it’s one of the most low-key things I’ve heard in a while and that, of course, is high praise.

Built around 5 pieces, the album could conceivably be called drone, I suppose, but it has too much of an obvious melodic component. In fact, there’s an almost classical leaning on a couple of the pieces as they gradually, oh-so-slowly build from the ground up adding in deep single note textures and tones to create a swelling and very beautiful soundscape feel. This aspect of the work is tempered sweetly by the darker and more intense designs of the other pieces and the natural flow between them is marvellous. It drifts, for the most part, taking you with it on a subtle journey through sound that had me absolutely hooked from the outset. There are no obvious comparisons here for me (although I admit that one of the pieces sounds remarkably close to one of my own tracks which is a bit of a coincidence) and it seems to have a life all of its own.

Mournful, yet joyous, moody, yet buoyant, meandering yet tightly focused… Porzellan delivers all of these elements into a splendid package that comes with a hearty recommendation.

Bvdub – We Were The Sun

Artist: Bvdub

Title: We Were The Sun

Label: Quietus Recordings

Cat No.: QUIETUS006

Format: CDr – Edition of 300 hand numbered copies

I honestly never realised two and a half years ago how much grief Brock Van Wey was going to cause me. Quite apart from using up days and weeks of my life listening to his music I’ve also discovered the Remote_ Book Of Superlatives (registered trademark) has now been well and truly run dry – purely from describing his releases. So, I’m in a quandary about reviewing this utterly ravishing new album from the man. I mean, you all know that I genuinely love the music I receive and I know that sometimes it seems like I go overboard on things. But believe me when I say that this is what keeps me going – the music is, ultimately, what it’s all about and this release is a 100% prime example of why after all these years I’m still so excited about my beloved electronica.

Following two absolutely monumental releases (namely To Live and White Clouds) Bvdub now brings us what I consider to be yet another crowning achievement in his already incredible catalogue of music. We Were The Sun is, simply put, an album of such grace and beauty that words really won’t do it justice and neither will the samples. You have to experience the flow of this for yourself to see exactly what I mean. As he’s matured musically his tendency towards the ambient has grown ever stronger and as that move towards beatlessness and atmosphere has progressed he’s moved ever further away from what you could traditionally consider to be ‘electronica’. This is more proof of the fact that he just has a natural talent for putting together achingly emotional music without pandering to anyone at any time. It’s on his own terms and, you know what? That’s why it’s so fine. I said when I first heard it that I’d break it down and give him my thoughts, but after a days solid listening I found that it would be absolutely redundant to try to make any sense of the tracks individually. Similarly, it’s pointless me telling you exactly what each track sounds like because that’s just not how it works.

I could, I suppose, tell you about the stunning drop halfway through the first track when a Rhodes piano chord comes in and the pads flow out of the mix before drifting back in. I could go on at length, I’m sure, about the final track – an immaculate acoustic guitar based track with such a heartfelt and refined sense of intimacy that it had me reaching for the rewind button again and again. And I’m pretty sure that I could spend about an hour and half describing the tracks that come in between. But you don’t really need to know all that – you just need to put it on some headphones, sit back, breathe deeply and allow it to carry you away.

You all know I’m a huge fan and I know that a lot of you are also huge fans. And rightly so as this man deserves all the love and plaudits he gets. Do yourself a favour and grab yourself a copy of this because, at the end of the day, it’s just an immense piece of work from one of the finest producers to have emerged in the last few years. Bravo, sir.

Fourm / Steinbruchel – Knot 3 – White_Line Editions – 3″ CDr

I’m an unabashed fan of BG Nichols’ work whether it’s under his Si_Comm or Level guises and now I’m extremely pleased to have experienced his new Fourm project.

Having discovered a recording of a Ralph Steinbruchel live set entitled ‘Box’ he set about getting permission from the artist to rework the pieces from the CD in his own inimitable style. He duly received a thumbs-up from Steinbruchel and this absolutely marvellous 3″ CDr is the end result.

Packaged in a plastic wallet with a set of 4 postcards featuring some rather nice minimalist artwork, the audio content is a re-imagining of the source material using electronic processing to add layers of depth and sparse beauty to the original. Rather than completely deconstructing the work, Nichols approaches the reinterpretations with respect and cunning to provide a compelling series of pieces.

Strictly minimalist, the work is a series of beautifully cultivated layers and rhythmic elements that sits somewhere between his micro-fine high frequency work as Si_Comm and the more lush melancholy ambient sound of his Level project. The effect is strangely soothing, yet has enough edge and background layering to reward thorough listening. That said, however, there’s a real ambient overtone, particularly to the first track, ‘Knot 3′ and this gentle way of easing the listener into the CD pays dividends.

By the time you reach ‘Knot 2′ you’re greeted by an altogether more rhythmic and angular piece of work that, once again, manages to retain a calm and hypnotic feeling whilst dislocating you with off-kilter drops and stutters. The underlying drone is a thing of great beauty and accentuates the overtly a-tonal sound that plays across in tandem with the rhythms.

The final track, ‘Knot 1′, is yet another superb example of depth in drone. A pulsating and, no doubt speaker shaking, bass rumbling bottom end collides with a menacing series of foreground tones that, at times, seem to be trying to communicate with you. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if there’s a hint of manipulated vocal in there somewhere. Sci-fi minimalism with attitude and the sort of oceanic depth that fans of Richard Chartier or NVO will be extremely pleased to hear.

In essence this is a project of some substance and I’ll certainly be looking forward to the next instalment in the series.

Once again Nichols delivers a wonderfully thought provoking and engaging piece of work.

Available as a limited edition of 100 copies from Si_Comm / Fourm’s blog as well as Smallfish Records

Welcome to the new look remote_ thoughts

After quite some time away from the blogging / reviewing scene I decided a change was in order. Simply, the ability to be able to categorize the blog entries into reviews, news and otherwise was very appealing indeed so I’ll be importing my old reviews from the old site over time and adding new things on a much more regular basis.

As you may know it’s been a turbulent time for me with the closure of the physical side of Smallfish Records and the venture into online only territory, but I feel ready to start reviewing again and will be updating this on a (hopefully) daily basis.

So, let the remote_ thoughts commence!

Mnortham – Automnal 2003 – and/OAR – CD

And/OAR continues to impress me as a label with its varied, original and extremely high quality release and it’s clear that owner Dale Lloyd takes a great deal of care over every single release.

As such it’s always a pleasure to hear a new CD from such a quality imprint and this release from Mnortham is absolutely sublime.

The three tracks that make up the 55 minute CD are audio snapshots of three different locations in time and reflect the ideas and feelings the artist had whilst relocating around the globe thirteen times in the just two years, culminating in his arrival back home in Autumn 2003.

Prepare to be soothed and engaged by the work on offer here as there’s a tangible sense of difference between the pieces, even though the approach is roughly the same each time with processing of location recordings and found sounds forming the main structures.

‘Glacier Du Trient, Switzerland/France’ is a light, breezy, yet discordant piece that lifts you up with its high end drone sounds and insistent clicks in the background which force you to pay attention. It’s hard tune it out and you’ll find yourself listening to it in depth and discovering more and more resonant frequencies existing than you imagined at first.

‘Eagle Creek, Indianapolis’ has a heavier, more oppressive tone and bears a similarity at times to some of the work of Wolfgang Voigt under his Gas moniker. Combined with the sound of cicadas in the background the organic tone that drives the track forward gives you a palpable sense of a wide open space inhabited by creatures of the night.

The final piece ‘Ils Grosbois, Montreal’ is the most haunting of the works here. A mid/high-frequency drone that works with discordant layers resonates at just the right level to create a sense of dislocation, gradually adding in subtle static sounds and scratchy, gritty tones into the background. Again this give the track a real sense of movement, driving it ever forward.

And it’s this sense of moving and never settling in one place that permeates the whole CD… a feeling of transience captured for eternity on a piece of encoded plastic.

That’s the magic of music and it’s certainly where the magic of this CD comes from.

A delightful, beautiful and very personal piece of work.

Lucky & Easy – Hookahs – Ampoule – CD

The big question for me has always been ‘Is Lucky & Easy actually Pub in disguise?’

A question that’s never been answered to my complete satisfaction unfortunately… not that it matters a damn, of course, when the music on offer is this fine.

Lucky & Easy have generally provided a more classic ‘Electronica’ sound than Pub’s deeper, more Berlin orientated work and ‘Hookahs’ is as varied and entertaining as you could possibly imagine an album being.

Their (his?) penchant for dreamy melody is very much on show from the very first moments of the CD and is never far away from the centre of things.

Lively, crunchy beats form a cracking backbone for the sounds to weave a magical spell over the top using all the tricks of the trade that higher profile artists such as Plaid have done for years. To be fair, for me anyway, Lucky & Easy are as good as Plaid when they deliver those chord sequences and touches of traditional melody. Plus the cleverly programmed beats give it a life of its own with what seems to be off-time rhythms that soon settle into a real groove.

It doesn’t stop there though as L & E are clearly devotees of the Detroit sound and they embellish quite a few of their tracks with a Motor City lushness that speaks of pure machine funk. ‘Kiss It Better’ is a prime example of this with some seriously hectic percussion and 4/4 beat that’s got more in common with Derrick May or B12 than Black Dog, whilst ‘Night Rainbows’ could have come straight out of 1993.

And these tracks are when they show up the Pub connection (if there is one…) with clattering, beautifully ever-changing arrangements that are far more complicated than they seem. In fact it’s not unusual for the tracks to go through two or three major changes throughout their duration staring out with an ambient flavour that soon turns into rhythmic and melodic and becomes powerfully driven even further forward by the beats.

There’s even an acid track, ‘Chippoke’, that rolls along with a 4/4 beat and an almost House-style feel.

It’s this sense of depth and variety that make this wonderful album shine through and if you’re a fan of good electronic music in any way at all I seriously suggest you hunt a copy of this down without any delay.

Monostation – Alchemy 6: Phosphor – Limit Switch – 3" CD

I thought it was about time that I reviewed a Monostation station release as this is, in fact, their seventh release of 2006 and forms the sixth part of their ongoing ‘Alchemy’ series and the first release since their superb ‘Greyscale EP’ for London’s Smallfish imprint.

This London-based duo has been experimenting in the realms of processed sound for some time and the Alchemy series is a natural exploration of the resulting tracks.

Thus far the music has been predominantly based around the sounds of processed guitars, but with this release they’ve used a variety of tones to generate the incredible swathes of sound that make up this CD.

Phosphor itself is a slowly evolving and very beautiful track that ebbs and flows with an enchanting resonance that fills your mind quite beautifully.There’s an exquisite noisiness to the background drone that drags you in whilst the flowing overlaid chord has a movement and delicacy all its own.

If you heard this on Kranky, you’d be blown away… let’s just put it that way.

The second track, ‘Firebird’, is generated using piano sounds and has a less obviously drone-based style, instead choosing to use a hypnotic chord motif that repeats and evolves throughout.

Dripping in reverb it puts me in mind of Seefeel way back in the day and you can almost tangibly hear the dub bassline that could sit underneath (good idea for a remix?).

When the searing synth strings make their way into the mix it instantly becomes a majestic piece of music that gives a nod to the Cocteau Twins but keeps it more minimal than they did and allows the sheer simplicity of the music to drift over you like a wave.

As an added bonus you can download two remix tracks based on these originals from their website – www.monostation.net

Monostation seem to be ploughing their own furrow at the moment and I, for one, am glad that they’re still single-mindedly delivering such beautiful and evocative music.

Long may it continue.

Fourcolor – Letter Of Sounds – 12k – CD

It’s fair to say, I think, that Keiichi Sugimoto is not only prolific, but something of a master of his genre of music as well. It doesn’t seem to matter which of his guises he’s working under, he always just seems to get it right. Whether he’s producing as Fonica, Filfla or as part of four-piece act Minamo, there’s a subtlety and very Japanese beauty to everything he does.

To find that the new 12k release is from his Fourcolor moniker is great news indeed as ‘Air Curtain’, his previous CD for Taylor Deupree’s label, was a delicious slice of low-key, melodic electronic lushness.

Similarly, ‘Letter Of Sounds’ is a work that seems infinitely delicate, yet more than robust enough to stand the test of time.

By opening with the sheer exuberance of ‘02’ it quickly becomes apparent that we’re dealing with a serious album. His use of organically-based sounds which are then constructed into shimmering layers of electronic music is enchanting and, once again, we find him using the sound of guitar harmonics to punctuate his tracks.

Simple, charming chord structures form the basis for a lot of the work here and they have a pleasingly old-school feel with just the right amount of Techno-style soul to keep the purists happy whilst injecting it more traditional instrument sounds.

He never saturates the tracks though, and always gives the tones enough room to weave around the crisp rhythmic elements that creep in from time to time.

In fact there’s enough room on the second track ‘Rowboat’ to allow female Japanese vocalist Piana to breathe some lyrical life into the track.

Her voice acts as a superbly fragile accompaniment and it’s great to see yet another artist who isn’t afraid to use the voice as yet another tool for creating sound, as opposed to relying on it for unnecessary and obvious emotional content.

When he picks up the tempo later into the album there’s an even greater hint of Techno that shines through. You get the sense that he’s a fan of the Motor City sound and some of the rigid structures and tight metronomic clicks definitely give a nod in that direction.

He always adds in his unique melodic chords though and that’s the true strength – there’s always beauty – even when, as in ‘Leaves’, he adds an experimental leaning to the track… in this case a resonant and insistent test tine which gradually builds throughout the track.

Sugimoto should be treasured for his consistently excellent and charming work and this release will certainly go down as one of my favourites.