It’s not often that I come across a CD that I have difficulty listening to in one sitting, but Geistform accomplish this on “Transistor Music”, their fourth studio album. Imagine this: high-energy, synth-driven, uptempo stuff, but with an underlying menace that is quite likely to scare off the usual fans of similar offerings.
Tag: 2010
FluiD – Envisioning Abstraction: The Duality of FluiD
Though clearly the work of a skilled musician/producer who knows his influences inside out and a technically competent release, “Duality” is not without its flaws, the biggest of which is a certain lack of personality. Something to consider working on when preparing new material, perhaps…
V/A – 2010 Hands
“2010 Hands” follows suit from previous instalments in this compilation series, presenting material by a variety of artists, from relative newcomers to label staples along with material by lesser-known side projects. In the end, most of the contents of this compilation should come across as fairly familiar to those used to the musical aesthetics of Hands Productions. Nevertheless, there are a few surprises which make it worth checking out.
Kyle Bobby Dunn – A Young Person’s Guide to Kyle Bobby Dunn
Formulated from the drone alchemist’s primary ingredients of sustained, repeated sounds and tone-clusters, “A Young Person’s Guide…” finds sources in brass, strings, guitar and piano, electronically warped, stretched and woven into expansive textures. What results are two hours of profound introversion.
Dead Voices On Air – From Afar All Stars Spark and Glee
To put it in a nutshell, this record proves that Mark Spybey is one of these artists who, after a long career, are still able to cleverly renew their style while remaining faithful to their roots. And for listeners who are mostly into dark and heavy music, this kind of bright interval can sometimes be a real blessing.
V/A – Hypercommunity
Aliens serve up something excellent in the form of “Hypercommunity” – and the record forms both an excellent introduction to a very exciting label as well as a welcome sampler of new material for existing fans.
Edgey – Misfire
The reason why “Misfire” falls short comes down to its chaotic nature. That said, it is still lots of fun, and a great party record, but works better in a shuffled playlist than as a stand-alone album.
Hioctan / Ascii.Disko / Prospective / Absurd Minds
A grab-bag of last year’s dance-friendly EBM and electro with the latest releases by Hioctan, Ascii.Disko, Prospective and Absurd Minds.
Philipp Münch – Into the Absurd
An album where you can hear all the things Philipp Münch has ever done, but in a very different perspective than what might be expected from him. Granted the sound may seem a bit dated from time to time, but it’s all in a good way – when you play some old Throbbing Gristle or Cabaret Voltaire you won’t complain about older drum machines. So it’s enough to say that ‘dated’ is not the word; this is called ‘vintage’.
synnack – v2.5
“v2.5” can be a very tough nut to crack as one of those albums that, upon first listen, one immediately knows is excellent but can’t really explain why. On occasion, listening it almost feels like tuning an FM receiver in the middle of the night: even if revisiting ‘familiar’ areas of the FM spectrum you never know what you will find or how it will shift.