The rise of the Neo-Romantics featuring AGE and Tobias Bernstrup

Maybe as no other era before our time asks for a new Neo-Romantic movement. It is evident the old ways of thinking with a focus on the rational and the paradigm of endless growth are not tenable...

In the 60's the Neo-Romantic movement was most visible in the psychedelic and folk music subcultures... and the 80's of course this was new wave at large with even a new wave substyle called The New Romantics. In both era's it was about dreams of the past...

Today... as it goes... all is retro... but at least some people are taking elements from the past to built new foundations to create something new. In music today most is still just retro minded... but some artists have this glow of something partly new around them...

This year AGE released one tape and two 10 inches filled with European folk music elements which are blended in a superb way with electronics... of course this is not new... think Garmarna, Sorten Muld and many other who have done this before... BUT... AGE prepare this mixture of the old and the contemporary in a sort of alchemistic way to serve you a ritual trip... it is sweet, lovely, deeply touching... simply amazing and some of the best music released in 2012...

Here is one piece from the second 10 inch released on Zusammen Records...

Another artist that fits the label "Neo-Romantic" is Tobias Bernstrup... he released a new album this year... which is his third... and best to date... with each album you hear the growth... the music gets better and better and more and more the sound is becoming something new and truly original and totally just Tobias Bernstrup...

Tobias Bersntrup takes elements from italo disco, synth pop and elektro and molds this into a style of his own... and with great success... and the themes he addresses are neo romantic for sure... it is about the decay of this world and about the decadent way we are living... and in doing this is about dreams about a new tomorrow, about a new world, new humans... a new age...

And so is AGE... they are all about dreams about a new tomorrow... about a different world... the true Neo-Romantics of our time are not just retro minded but dreams about the future instead of the past...

Here is a track by Tobias Bernstrup from his last album which says it all... we have no time to die...

And here is a teaser for the upcoming new 12 inch EP by Tobias Bernstrup on Gooiland Elektro... coming spring 2013... Happy Yule!

Zusammen Records, Totsoluna Disc, Religion Nouvelle

When Musamore Editions appeared it was first sort of a secret it was the return of A// from Le Syndicat Electronique (LSE) / Invasion Planete Recordings (IP). For the people who know his work and the way he presents his work it never was a secret. Still it was a surprise that this return took place after the way IP came to an end.

After a series of eight cd's on Musamore (see here...) came the return to vinyl with Zusammen Records. First with five 10" records with in a way the well known elektro / electronic sound. Some of these records include small masterpieces... some others are maybe only interesting to the collectors and followers of IP and related stuff.

Recently three 10" record appeared under the alias of Précurseur Grand Bois. These three releases are simply outstanding... both in the repertoire of A// as in the music world in general. The music is a mix of electronics and acoustic instruments... tunes going from minimal repetitive chants to music fitting some old freak show. Some pieces would have been perfect as soundtrack to the Carnivale tv series.

What you hear is original and unique... but I cannot escape the feeling that I am listening to later day LSE jamming around with Novy Svet. Maybe A// did listen to Novy Svet and came up with this stuff... maybe...

Everything around Précurseur Grand Bois must also been seen in relation to the two cd's on Totsoluna Disc and the two tapes recently released on Religion Nouvelle... yet another two (sub)labels run by A//. All four of these releases move away from the electronic music field into the realm of ritual, occult, folklore and traditional music. While both the first cd and the first tape are more ritualistic and occult in feeling the second cd and second tape move more and more into the traditional music and folkloristic world.

Together with this new music he is doing A// also developed a new world of images around him and a new image for himself. Do not get me wrong... throughout the year excellent music has been transmitted into the world by him but this shape shifting thing so to speak is something I do not want to follow. To me when looking back it is like he is in a way the Madonna of the underground. Changing sound and image from time to time in a radical way... maybe too radical. This could have been done in another way... less theatrical...



We have seen the activist (elektro / IP period), the extremist (later day elekto / later day IP period), the prophet (end of LSE / La Seduction Des Innocents period), the hermit (Musamore) and now recently the folkflorist/occultist/freak show character (Totsoluna / Religion Nouvelle / Précurseur Grand Bois)... and coming soon is the first record under the alias of /I\... which sounds and looks like a sort of return the activist and extremist period in sound and image... as it sounds like old school elektro and the cover shows A// (?) in an army jacket and army trousers...

Maybe I should just ignore all this play and shape shifting... as in general the music is good... very good even... and from time to time it is truly brilliant what you get served...

10 times modern classical music - some favorites of M. from Enfant Terrible (for 716 Music)

For summer 2011 I did a dj mix for the 716 Music blog... for the beginning of 2012 I selected 10 of my personal favorite pieces of modern classical music for the blog.

All tracks come with a small note from me and are featured as Youtube video...

Here is the playlist:

1. Luigi Russolo – Corale (1921)
2. Karlheinz Stockhausen – Kontakte (Teil I & II) (1959/1960)
3. Krzysztof Penderecki - Threnody To The Victims of Hiroshima (1960)
4. György Ligeti – Lux Aeterna (1966)
5. Luigi Nono – Contrappunto Dialettico Alla Mente (1968)
6. Terry Riley – A Rainbow In Curved Air (1969)
7. Hero Wouters - Dialoog Voor Twee Synthesizers & Tape-transport (1974)
8.Glenn Branca – Symphony No. 3 (Gloria) (1983)
9. Ilya Monosov – Autonomous Guitar Music for Marc Schulz (2002)
10. Puin+Hoop – Bomendocumentaire (2010)

You can listen to the pieces and read my notes on them here at the 716 Music blog...

review: Optic Nest - Entertainment

Optic Nest... for some years I only had that nice 7 inch with two crazy slow psychedelic minimal electronic tracks on it. Stuff that is working its way up from a Silver Apples heritage but that is also for sure from a different planet of its own. And now this LP... amazing... simply amazing... goodbye Silver Apples reference and hello other weirdness... still psychedelic at times more mostly just twisted and not of thisd place and way beyond your average (minimal) music.

This LP (again on Moptaco Dics)... well if released in the 80's this would have been collector stuff on discogs and ebay now... but now... I am afraid only for the real connoisseur... a piece for freaks and adventurous listeners... Think WSDP releases with a less punk / NDW twist and a more minimal music touch or maybe Thorax-Wach on acid...

The 7 inch convinced me already and had me hooked for years... this LP... I am a believer now... a follower... this LP is still working it way into my system deeper and deeper... get this or be ignorant... it is as simple as that...

I have some copies at the webshop and here is one full track...

Optic Nest - The Well Stirred Wild by Moptaco Dics

review: Ilya Monosov and Rosa Ensemble

Recently released on the superb label You Don't Have To Call It Music from Germany is an album with a collection of pieces by Ilya Monosov. Ilya Monosov is a contemporary musician / composer who is active in the field of experimental music. Since 1999 there has been quite a number of releases with music by him, mostly on tape and vinyl.

His works range from drones and psychedelic soundscapes to electro-acoustic pieces to minimal music and to improvised pieces. And... this LP collects all that in a fantastic way. You get eight pieces as either an introduction to, or as a confirmation of, his work.

The record is not just a collection... the pieces are sequenced just in the right way to make this a true adventure in sound and music. From playful to darker moods and from pleasant harmonic pieces to more difficult to follow experimental pieces. It is all here.

You Don't Have To Call It Music has released some fabulous other records as well. For example the RBE (Raudive Bunker Experiment) collection with true early industrial music. For fans of Cabaret Voltaire this one is not to be missed But also the Karl Bösmann LP "Eskalation" is excellent. Probably one of the most intense en darkest records I have ever heard. Somewhere in between psychedelic music and experimental drones. If you like Lustmord or Attestupa then this one is for you!

Also experimental but much more easy listening is "The Blind Spot" by Rosa Ensemble from the Netherlands. This album, which they call themselves their ambient album, was already released in 2006 on their own Bonte Koe Records label. It is being re-released now by Dying Giraffe Recordings.

Indeed this is an ambient album but very much unlike the ones you have probably heard before. Ambient has become a fixed genre and has moved mostly out of the art music world into pop territory where it is produced by people with laptops. "The Blind Spot" is nothing like that. First of all as the music is performed with real instruments, with electronics on the side, and second also because of the diversity in sounds and moods on this album.

Mostly the mood is also quite light on this album while for a large part ambient tends to be rather dark or at least bleak these days. The pieces range from soundscapes in the tradition of minimal music to what you might call experimental chamber music.

If you like to listen to ambient I really recommend to try this album for a change. I am quite sure you will be suprised... in a pleasant way...

review: Lowfish - Memories Are Uncertain Friends

In short I could mention two points of criticism about this release. One is that it is a cd. Not the nicest of formats to release music on... especially when it comes to electronic music. But then this album is released on a cd packaged in a tin can in a limited hand numbered edition of only 250 copies. That is good enough for me as a collector and as a music lover.

The other point of criticism I can think of is that the music on this album sounds so "1990's". It is IDM and more abstract minded elektro / electronic music with the typical sound of that era. Buth then, this IS music from the 1990's... all tracks date from 1995 to 1999.

What I want to say is that the only points of criticism anybody could come up with for this album are irrelevant. "Memories Are Uncertain Friends" is a superb album with electronic music. An album filled with quality IDM, elektro and related electronic music styles. From abstract to some sort of dance tunes to spacey ambient pieces.

This release also marks the return of Suction Records. A label I respect and a label that must be seen as an important player in the first wave of the elektro, synth pop and minimal electronics revival. Together with labels as Invasion Planète, Genetic Music and A.D.S.R. they shaped the things to come when it comes to this type of music.

Suction Records also have always filled a gap with a specific sounds nobody else did. The music they release is smoother as the stuff Invasion Planète released and not so typical new wave inspired as the Genetic Music output, and less focused on lo-fi experiments as what A.D.S.R. was doing.

Their sound was elektro pop with a twist towards experimentation and in a case of more experimental electronic music always in an accessible way... meaning never over the top and thus still enjoyable to listen to in your car while driving. As is also the case with this Lowfish album.

So, I am very pleased to see Suction Records is resurrected. This first release by Lowfish is a perfect new beginning after the hiatus of about seven years since the last proper release. Looking forward to what will be coming next...

In the meantime you can get this Lowfish album at the Enfant Terrible webshop...

New radio show at Intergalactic FM - Radio Resistencia

Listen to our (Stg. Art De SuR) monthly radio show at Intergalactic FM: every first wednesday of the month on IFM1 at 22.00 hour CET. Always 1 live set and 2 live dj sets... Listen here...

Every month 2 hours of music/fun/education... whatever you want!

Starting this wednesday 1 September: live Sololust (NL, elektro), dj Alacidus (NL, dark electronics), dj M. (this time a new wave classix set)...

Turn on, tune in, drop out!