Author: dave

Given Bryn Jones’s rather slack approach to track titles (both being consistent with and sometimes even just supplying them), it’s a bit of a relief to realize that two tracks with the same name are indeed related. In the case of “Arab Jerusalem”, which makes up nearly half of the newly-released Lalique Gadaffi Handgrenade, that kinship is immediately apparent even though both tracks are clearly their own experiences. Released as the first track on the Minaret-Spearker picture disc 7″ in 1996, “Arab Jeruzalem” (spelling also sometimes being fairly slack) is nearly six minutes of effectively shifting dark ambience, wordless female vocals drifting over the hand percussion, chimes, and static of the track, with eventual conversational loops discussing… something underneath. The end of that version is especially striking for the way the woman’s wordless singing starts being sampled in such a way that it overlays the whole track (and, slightly, itself). The almost 24-minute “Arab Jerusalem” here might be called the Deer Hunter version of the same story, building with great patience and many more abstract detours towards what now seems like simultaneously an excerpt and, now, a climax. As with many of Jones’ more ambient tracks, the great length just lets it cast its spell more thoroughly and entrancingly. The other three tracks, meanwhile, suggest some of Jones’ other work but never evoke them as directly as “Arab Jerusalem”. “Jordan River” is nearly as long (a second shy of 20 minutes) but strips out the vocal elements in its predecessor, focusing instead on a more active percussive workout (analog and digital both). The title track of Lalique Gadaffi Handgrenade might bring to mind the title of “Lalique Gadaffi Jar” from Libya Tour Guide, last reissued by Staalplaat in 2015 (ARCHIVE 031CD), but if they’re sonically related Jones must have practically melted the other track to get this one. And the closing “Desert Gulag” (like the title track, a much more manageable length than the first two epic tracks here) bears a slight resemblance to “Negev Gulag” from 1996’s Fatah Guerrilla, here what was a piercing, repetitive drone is softened and looped over more of Jones’ percussion. The result is a well-rounded release that shows off many aspects of Jones’ sound as Muslimgauze, while existing (like many of these DAT tapes do) in conversation with much of his previously released work. All tracks written, performed, mixed by Muslimgauze. Recorded, engineered, mixed by John Delf. Unreleased material. Edition of 700.

With his comrade-in-arms Mick Chillage, Rochester, New York’s Eric “The” Taylor birthed the wonderful Architects of Existence project on Carpe Sonum back in 2017. Now he’s flying solo, and his ‘silence’ the past couple of years has borne some additional, immersive ambient fruit. Safe Travels on face appears to be another in a long line of revelations concocted by many an electronic musician’s perpetual devotion to all things interplanetary and intergalactic, and track titles such as “Moon Bass”, “Astrological Fall”, and “Destination” surely evoke all kinds of far-flung star treks that eagerly embrace the outer limits. But Taylor twists those hoary influences in ways you wouldn’t always expect. The attendant sounds surely do their enigmatic descriptors justice. Taylor is wholly punchdrunk on the sheer power of analog synthesis and its near-limitless sonic resources—the man’s not shy about exploiting those resources to the full. Thus, our collective cochlea revel in the short but twinkling starshine that is the aforementioned “Control”, the airy and atmospheric extrasolar mesas, complete with birdcall, that comprise the ten-plus minutes of “Deep Pond”, and the delicately poised pulses that lend “Tracking” its colorful and otherworldly complexion. Sheer beautiful miasma.

Cover art by Robert Rich.

The periodic table jumble codename that is 2xirtam (aka the duo of Lee Anthony Norris and Frank Rumpelt) debuted the remarkable Quantized Memories on Carpe Sonum last year, and it appears that in that time, their imaginative breadth has been fired up as if by exploding supernovae. Quantum Worlds continues those previous machinations, and to say that it’s an, uh, quantum leap forward from their opening salvo is to damn with faint praise. Who’s responsible for what across these seven tracks is unclear, and, frankly, it doesn’t matter: Norris and Rumpelt are so in sync it’s scary, seemingly able to both compliment and augment each other’s textural hues to a telepathic degree. The net effect is nigh on stunning. Tracks like the spellbinding “LF Quantization” and “Quantum State” will have you reliving the glory days of Atom Heart, Eyephone, and Nonplace Urban Field, not to mention some of Norris’ golden Norken work, all of which is handily subsumed and recontextualized in the two tracks’ bracing pattern ’n’ pulse. It’s a dazzling feast for the senses: sounds snap, crackle and pop, whole rhythmic intersystems are erected, arise, percolate, and iris. What results is ultimately the kind of stuff that’s always drawn the more discerning of us to electronic music in the first place, the creation of heretofore unrealized sonic universes, sensations and tinctures the ear has never previously tasted, the genesis of trompe l’oeil for the cerebellum. Here’s the real deal folks, ripe and ready for the picking.

QST is an abbreviation of Quest, both of which are aliases of Frans de Waard, whose decades-long career as a performer, composer, writer/publisher, labelhead and general artistic instigator has seen him traverse more electronic/experimental hybrids and subsects over the course of a single year than accomplish in a lifetime. The grass surely doesn’t grow under his feet: he still regularly publishes the (online) review list Vital Weekly; recently penned a history of the label he co-founded, Staalplaat; performs regularly throughout the world; and continues to release a staggering array of recordings under an equally diverse cover of aliases. QST has been the place de Waard allows his ‘techno’/rhythmic flag to fly free; earlier works champion an exhaustive dissection of repetitive beats, patterns, loops, sequences, and motifs. On his debut for Carpe Sonum, the QST modus operandi appears in full regalia. “QST 28” exults in its Casio-esque robo-bop; “QST 29” focuses on early Aphex Twin-like squelch ’n’ roll; “QST 67” could be Tangerine Dream reimagined for the dub-techno set, sprinkled with some of Bochum Welt’s fairydust; “QST 79” is a dayglow fest of spring breeze machinedrum majesty. One of Carpe Sonum’s more unusual editions perhaps, but nonetheless, de Waard’s spunky rhythmese is boisterously welcomed in our ever-expanding sonic universe.

Music and computer networks, multiplexing (sometimes contracted to muxing) is a method by which multiple analog or digital signals are combined into one signal over a shared medium. The aim is to share a scarce resource. The multiplexed signal is transmitted over a communication channel such as the internet or Compact Disc.

1. Bålsam-Inside The Aboriginal Womb Of Our Mother Tree 08:44
2. Min-Y-Lan-Chant(Mick Chillage Remix) 12:53
3. Ancient Astronaut-Cosmic Dance 05:42
4. Ambidextrous-Jules Verne Still Gleaming 08:04
5. Parallel Worlds & Self Oscillate-My Window View 04:53
6. Sven Kössler-The Motivation Manifesto 07:46
7. Si Matthews-Seven Springs 06:39
8. Ancient Astronaut-Gwada 04:56
9. Skua Atlantic-Atlantic Fusion 10:18
10. Spectra Ciera-Weightless 03:02
11. Aythar-Straight Labyrinth(Egyenes Labirintus) 05:49
12. Off land & Specta Ciera-Passageway 11:45
13. Off Land-The Verdant System 08:22
14. Plank & Kössler-SKV05 12:01
15. 2xirtam-Vliitx 06:35
16. Tau Sagittarii-Denali 09:52
17. Joel Tammik-Tulevik 07:50
18. h7 buffer-Glisten 06:39

Off Land returns with ‘Field Tangents’, a beatless, seamless, ambient kaleidoscope. ‘Field Tangents’ combines live performance audio merged with studio sessions to create something that is both unique and familiar. Archived field recordings from various times and locations form a subtle spine, connecting the album’s sixteen tracks. Richly melodic and eerily emotive, ‘Field Tangents’ transports the listener to a prism outside of space and time.

A clear horizon…nothing to worry about on your plate, only things that are creative and not destructive’.
Alfred Hitchcock.

When asked his definition of happiness, Hitchcock’s intimate answer talked about the removal of negative energy and emotions to provide himself with a clear road ahead to allow his creativity to flourish. With his latest release, Petter Friberg challenges us to go beyond what we think are our limits, fully embracing a sense of flow so that both time and space are forgotten, to give us a renewed energy and joy in a more creative purpose and better quality of life.

‘A Clear Horizon’ is an exquisite ambient work composed to invoke these feelings and ideas where hypnotic patterns weave around drifting synthscapes, subtle melodies and evolving loops. Let your mind drift and head towards your own clear horizon.