review: Bex, Niedowierzanie, Henrik N. Björkk, Jan Svensson

Well that is about it for 2011... only a few hours left this year to play some records. I do not like end of year lists and I will not be joining that trend here. Still in this last day of the year I want to share a few words on a couple of records that were released quite recently and I played a lot here this last period of the year.

The German double label Treue Um Treue / Reue Um Reue did suprise me again with some very nice releases. In the past I preferred their more elektro influenced release on the TUT part of the label. But since some time the RUR part with it's more experimental music releases is what I play the most here.

This year a third vinyl by Novy Svet was released... a second archive release as the band is not active anymore since some years. The other archive record was a massive 2LP document with early (post)-industrial stuff... absolute great. Totally different is "Into Your Skies"... a record consisting only of guitar tunes... mostly acoustic guitar tunes. It took me some time to appreciate this one... but because of the amazing and beautiful song 'Silver & Grey' I kept coming back to this LP again and again... and even though I still think this record does not showcase the uniqueness of the band and incredible talent of the musician(s) behind it is still a record I enjoy a lot.

Then there was the second Niedowierzanie LP... the first one was a bit of an IDM influenced album... not bad at all but it never did grasp me as this new album "Attendre" does. The sound has shifted towards a more mediterranean kind of thing... like what O Paradis is famous for... still Niedowierzanie is more dynamic and his music shows some more variations within the context of one album. Also the musician shows here he is an excellent instrumentalist... I saw him this year performing live with Wermut in Berlin as he is now part of Wermut... and there too it was evident he is capable of playing various instruments very well.

Still there was one more record on RUR that truly blew me away... it was the debut vinyl by Bex... having a (post) black metal background this album "Rosegger" is going way beyond that. You could described this as a drone record, or dark ambient music or whatever... still this would not be fair as the music is less easy to define... it has a dark mood full of suspense with drone like structures but with twists that sets it apart. It is not otherworldly like the amazing Karl Bösmann record "Eskalation" but still it comes close and I often play these two records after each other...

Curious to hear what else is coming from Bex in the near future, but also from Niedowierzanie and other acts of what seems to be a new scene operating from Berlin and centered around the Reue um Reue label.

What else did attract my attention this last period... well there are the latest releases on cult label Börft. Here is an independent industrial / experimental / whatever music label dating back to 1987 and coming from the same scene as Cold Meat Industry. Unlike Cold Meat Indsutry the releases put out by Börft are still interesting... CMI has moved more towards a cliché industrial and gothic world while Börft has stayed much more true to the nature of industrial music as being weird and undefined and experimental.

There is a new series now on Börft entitled "Synthesator". Two parts have been released recently. Volume two is by Joel Brindefalk and a piece of electro-acoustic music... so very much for art music lovers. Volume one on the other hand may appeal to more people. It is a piece of dark ambient by Henrik N. Björkk, who is known from such bands as Mz. 412, Pouppeé Fabrikk and Nordvargr. What makes this record really nice is that it is done completely with modular synths and the music was not processed in anyway afterwards. You hear this and the sound of these synths is great and makes it also interesting for lovers of synthesizer music instead of only (dark) ambient fans.

BUT what really suprised me the most was the record "Pogrom" from label boss Jan Svensson himself. It suprised me in various ways... first as I had expected the music to be noise music... well if you look at the sleeve it is a classic industrial/noise piece of artwork and then you put on the record... it is really nice synth music. The music itself surprised me too... it is not just a really nice piece of synth music... it is really quality stuff we are talking about here. It is rather atmospheric with some parts which are maybe a bit more moody but mostly it is quite light and easy listening... it reminds me of some Minimal Music like that of Terry Riley but less freaky...

Also this album calls to mind the Hero Wouters LP I released on Enfant Terrible "Muziek Voor Leven En Dood". It has the same balance of being poppy and experimental... it is neither and has elements of both. Also in mood and feeling it has the same dramatic feeling with some suspense and some frivolous parts...

These records made up an excellent soundtrack for the last periode of 2011 for me... but I am sure I will be enjoying them way into the new year and for much longer...

The Niedowierzanie, Bex, Henrik N. Björkk and Jan Svensson records are for sale in the Enfant Terrible webshop...

And... here is a full track preview from the Jan Svensson LP...

Jan Svensson - Happening by Terrible 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

full track preview: Adolf Filter - River of Chebar from V/A - Svensk Bonnasynth

OUT NOW is the compilation "Svensk Bonnasynth" featuring minimal elektro and synthpop by Kord, Monster Apparat and Adolf Filter. Here is one of the track by Adolf Filter.

For more information on this record see here...

The record is available at the ET webshop and the regular shops and webshops that carry the ET releases...

Adolf Filter - River of Chebar by EnfantTerribleNL

full track preview: Kord - I, Sexuality from V/A - Svensk Bonnasynth

Out soon will be the compilation "Svensk Bonnasynth". A record with Swedish elektro / synth acts Adolf Filter, Monster Apparat and Kord. Here is one of the Kord tracks as a preview. Enjoy!

More information here...

It is possible to pre-order this record here...

Kord - I, sexuality by EnfantTerribleNL

review: Xander Harris, Psychic Reality, Maria Minerva & Holy Other

I love synth music... but I guess that is no secret. In this day and age of unlimited recycling I am fed up with all re-issues spit out over the world every month. Contemporary music deserves more attention and has more cultural relevance... but this I have said before... maybe too many times already... Anyway for my part I try to keep an eye out for new synth sounds all the time... recently I came across a few records that are spinning here all the time now.

Xander Harris is one of these... with his "Urban Gothic" album he found a way into my home and heart for sure. His mix of psychedelic synth music in the Kosmische Scene style... think Schulze... with elektro, and at times even EBM, influenced beats is working perfectly for me. The tracks are not too long... sometimes even more like sketches than real tracks mabye... still they work for me. The album is building up... the beats are becoming more dominant gradually... so the whole album is like a trip from tranquil pieces to rather beat driven tunes... still I prefer the A side best and the last few tracks on the A side especially... this as they are the perfect blending of pyschedelic synth lines with a clear rhythm with beats that are not too much in your face... simply perfect!

After finishing the A side of the Xander Harris I often switch to the Psychic Reality album "Vibrant New Age". More house music influenced when it kicks in with the opening track "Fruit". Still this could have been Gold Panda on his first releases and / or with a more trippy and less clean sound. Or... this could have fitted on Throbbing Gristle's "20 Jazz Funk Greats" like a more poppy / proto house version of 'Hot On The Heels Of Love'. BUT... the best thing about "Vibrant New Age" is that the record evolves into a much less easy to consume album that flirts with some post-punk influences... like a Sixteens on tranquilizers maybe... or a hippie version of Zola Jesus...

And then there is "Maria Minerva's Cabaret Cixous" by Maria Minerva... superb synth stuff unlike you hear most of the time... hippie punk weird synth music at it's very best! Poppy but not at all slick or easy... anything like that to be true. Maybe even some of the most adventurous pop music you have heard for some time... How does it sound? I have no idea how to describe this really... it has an exotic feel, it is playful, weird, minimal... well these words would attract my attention if I read about synth music sounding that way...

Still this is not as trippy as the "With U" EP by Holy Other... and this record has for sure some dubstep influences... and I never did like dubstep before... not really... I heard some really slow and dark things but most was too hip-hop orientated for me in the end... Anyway "With U" is deep and slow and doomy... when played at 33 rpm... a massive trip into the unknown... but you can also play this record at 45 rpm and then it is still deep and doomy but could serve a well informed, or drugged out, dancefloor audience for sure. And I cannot decide at which speed the record is at its best... it works perfectly for me at both speeds... funny and strange but excellent in many ways!

I have some copies of the Xander Harris and Psychic Reality records in my webshop...

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: Moon Gangs, Jonas Reinhardt, Mist

Next to a revival of synth sounds from the 1980's there is also a whole world of retro psychedelic sounds that refer to the originals of the 1960's and 1970's. While the neo 1960's bands mostly are pop / rock orientated, like for example Woods and Crystal Stilts, the retro 1970's acts take their cue from the psychedelic synth patterns of Klaus Schulze and friends.

This Berliner Schule was centered around Klaus Schulze and the projects (Tangerine Dream, Ash Ra Tempel and solo) he was involved with. Often the music was called Krautrock but this scene is also known under another, and better, name: Kosmische Scene.

While some bands and musicians had a definitely pop / rock background (Klaus Schuleze being one of them) there were many with a link to the world of classical/ art music (like Manuel Göttsching and of course Can).

Also today in this field of music you can hear and categorize the projects this way... either being more related to this art music world or very obviously being more of a pop music thing. This is not necessarily done on basis of the background of the musicians. I would rather claim the music itself tells it all.

For example take the debut tape by Moon Gangs. You get two long tracks called "Sea" and "Sky". Lush swirling synth patterns surround you in a way Klaus Schulze could have done it... or the way Klaus Schulze did this. About 40 years ago. Do not take me wrong... I love this tape by Moon Gangs. It is perfect. If want to relax and trip away a bit on mellow, soothing and friendly trance indulging tunes you do not need to look futher. But... it is very close to the original. Nothing new to be found here.

Then there is a new Jonas Reinhardt album called 'Music For The Tactile Dome', a title referring a bit to Brian Eno of course. Their last album was a bit more band orienated or even space rock in a way. This new record is more ambient and yes more Berliner Schule so to say. Funny detail is that the USA based band recorded this album in Berlin... So the ghost of the past did find its way into the machines and comes out in the spacey psychedelic tracks.

Still Jonas Reinhardt does not sound as close to the originals as Moon Gang does. Also the music is more complex at times. While Moon Gangs serves long minimalistic subtle drones of synth sounds, Jonas Reinhardt creates more evolving structures with new sounds and textures popping in from time to time. Still the overal structures are repetitive enough to catch your brainwaves and get you hooked for a trippy ride.

Again more minimalistic but also in a very different way is the album 'House' by Mist, which is their second album. This record I would claim leaves for the biggest part the pop and rock world behind... as this is much more Minimal Music in the sense of the contemporary classical music style. Think Terry Riley and think Steve Reich for example.

Mist composed seven tracks, pressed on a 2LP set, that are built around long repetitive pieces with subtle shifts and changes. These are not just minimalistic pieces of analogue synthesizers, but well considered compositions. Some tracks have that Berliner Schule touch maybe... but some others are definitely much closer to the world of art music / contemporary classical music. All this without being too academic or highbrow.

In the end I would recommend all three of the release as all are truly excellent in their own way... Happy tripping!