ambient / soundtrack

Perhaps some artists don't like to read this, but over the years I found some of my favorite albums in the sales-bin at record shops. Quite often, those albums are slightly different than most releases, a bit off-beat and experimental. That is also where I discovered Polish composer Jacaszek. His 2012 album 'Glimmer' was on sale, along with several other ambient and downtempo electronic releases. I spent quite some money that day and I went home with a backpack filled with CDs. From that batch, 'Glimmer' has become one of my favorites and  since then several other Jacaszek releases have been added to my collection. Now, 'Music For Film' will join them.

So, Michal Jacaszek is no stranger in this household. His approach here, a mix of gloomy electronics, ambient, classical music and often glitchy soundscapes feels otherworldly yet soothing. On 'Music For Film', a collection of soundtrack compositions, that trademark is still present, although sometimes it does feel like Jacaszek had a slightly different audience in mind while working on these pieces of music: the movie critics. Most tracks on 'Music For Film' are listener friendly, pushing the strangeness of some earlier releases somewhat to the back.

​Which does not mean that this is a sweet, easy listening album. Opener '49' explores the piano in a melancholic and nostalgic way, aided by mild strings. 'The Iron Bridge', second in line, is one of the weirder tunes. Although it contains a certain rhythm it might be best to categorize these sounds as "musique concrete". 'November Early' feels like a piece of classical music written for dark jazz fans. That being said, I'm one of those dark jazz fans and I absolutely adore this track. 'Twelve Years' is a slow and gloomy piece of work, driving on a sluggish beat and lingering strings.

'Dance' combines mild noise with a chamber orchestra, so it seems, and 'Christ Blood Theme' takes us to dark monasteries. 'Liina' excels in minimalism while, another one of my favorites here, 'Encounter Me in The Orchard' visits mystical lands and biospheres. For the last two tracks, I'll have to repeat the words dark jazz and classical music. Yet, don't worry, they're equally enchanting and interesting as the rest if this album.

So, this is 'Music For Film', not only an excellent album but also a great argument when stating that Michal Jacaszek can easily compete with the Zimmers and Elfmans of this world. He can, believe me. 'Music For Film' contains pieces from Rainer Sarnet’s 2017 black-and-white fantasy drama November and the 2019 documentary He Dreams of Giants, among others. If you're a fan of either ambient, dark jazz, gloomy electronics or classical music, you need to check this out.


​Serge

electronic / ambient / Berlin School

Belgian NeuMusik

The brand new label Littl' Antenna Records is the result of the live sessions of Littl' Antenna that take place in an old post office (PostX)in Merelbeke near Ghent Belgium. The Belgian electronic music world has a brand  new music label, on which Hyperkube's PostX try-out set was released both digitally and on CD under the title Remnants.

Hyperkube is the project of bedroom artist Tom Coppens who mainly focuses on producing electronic sounds treated in the Berlin School style. Remnants shows a collection of cosmic sound structures fed by sequencers and pulsating synths. The atmosphere on this live recording is affectionate, cheerful and has dreamy structures. However, we cannot speak of real floaty ambient here because of the emphatic penetration of the used sequencers.

The organizer of the PostX sessions (Alain Kinet) saw Tom Coppens at work during an atmospheric performance in the church of Herent and asked to perform this set again in the old post office. The unknown Tom Coppens apparently left a strong impression with his slightly dramatically boosted electronic tones. Hyperkube took the inspiration of greats such as Vangelis, Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulze. With this legacy a brave, rippling mix of electronic music was molded.

The distribution of the Littl' Antenna Records releases (there will be more) is done under the wings of the Wool-E Discs label.

​
Patsker

grunge / stoner rock

Iceland’s scene is very likely one of the strongest worldwide as we are talking about a country with roughly 360,000 inhabitants and yet we all know so many bands from Iceland pushing the brim for modern music further and further. Keelrider is another one of those, although they most likely will not see as much attention as Sigur Ros, Björk or the whole Icelandic black metal scene because they are Stoner Grungers with a twist. In 2018 they published their debut album “North” and last year they published two singles from their upcoming album “Second Wind”. While “Too Far Gone” is in parts a very nice melange of Alice in Chains-vocals and Soundgarden-stoner riffs, “Sun” is much more interesting because the band some a little more variety when it comes to time signatures and giving the guitar lines more space to breathe. If you are into stoner rock and grunge, this band is something right for you! 

post metal

Post-Metal from Italy. Most foreigners automatically associate it with Postvorta but some, a little deeper in and a little longer might remember the name Calendula, the sextet from Parma, which released an EP (2011) and a full-length (2012) a while ago. After some changes concerning line-up and musical direction, they released a 25-minute-song in November which definitely doesn’t fit to the title “De Brevitate Vitae” - it’s not brevis (brief) at all. It is quite a monster with a lot of dynamic changes and oscillates between dynamic driving drums and some really clever, counteracting guitar-work following the long intro, which sometimes hints at a bit of Tool. The vocals are pretty good, they also use some samples to give it a more differentiated sonic outline. Something that can be criticized is the sound as the partially trashy Lo-Fi sound doesn’t really fit a record as ambitious as this one, although on the other side it fits to the proclaimed role models  – 90s post-rock bands such as Slint (noticeable in the very effective guitar motif after the first real break). If the guys follow this path, we might have two Italian associations with the term Post-Metal.

electronic 

Svart Records is one of the finest labels when it comes to hard, harsh music, most people know about that. Most people do not know that they also have an electronic sub-label – Svartronix which again is very open-minded. A few weeks ago they released the debut song by A Heart Beats “Dazes the Mind” which is pop music that fits perfectly in any 80s mix of songs by some tropical house producer. This songs purvey a kind of Caribbean calypso feeling but their sex-appeal derives to a large extent from the intriguing vocals of Paile who once was a member of Beastmilk. His delivery is very nice and especially the chorus is so funky that one automatically feels his feet moving, but the line also has some depth “It dazes the mind / and numbs the tongue”. The beats produced by Tuuki are layered with some space basslines in the sense of some more synth-driven Daft Punk and the beat itself is shuffling a bit, so that the sunny, opening sounds give the song a holiday feeling without the stupidity. A promising debut song, let’s hope A Heart Beats and Svartronix has some more servings.

doom / death metal

Russian death doom act Intaglio released a demo version of a new track at the end of last year and in some way, the beauty lies in the rhythm. Many voices will now scream that the rhythm is nothing particular new to the genre, as the slow, dragging rhythm of the song is really quite normal, but the way that the strings connect to it, support it in certain passages, yeah, even form it from time to time, that is really breathtaking – the Gothic attitude it brings to the song turns it into a remarkable one. The lyrics, speaking about the overwhelming character of a memory of death which overshadows everything else, are delivered in regular death metal style. Another standout feature is the use of the use of an upright bass that is tuned so well, that you can hear each tap and each ring.
In some way, three pretty singular metal genres are amalgamated into one pretty dense net of emotions that will leave no open ear without imprinting a memory of itself on the listener. If this is a first sign of a new album then one might keep Intaglio in mind.

punk

Everything about this 7” screams “Old school! Old school!”, the cover (seemingly a reverse from the classic Minor Threat discography cover that also was adopted by Rancid several years ago), the cover b-side, the black-white style, the sound, everything! But first things first: The revived band released a good album in 2018 and last December followed with this 7” out on Heartworm Press. The title track is a new shotgun blast somewhere between Zeke, MC5, The Clash, Turbonegro and Black Flag (although one must say, that only the vocals sometimes hint at Rollins) – definitely a good track. The b-side is a well-made cover of “Left for Dead” by The Lemonheads another one of these late 80s punk bands that turned more and more to indie-rock. The cover is good and shows a different side to American Nightmare. However, there is one thing that is lacking in this release and that is the teenage angst that made AN famous. The despair, the sadness, the melancholy – not there. On the other hand, that might drive the listener to despair and achieves the same effect.

avant garde / folk

Dog Tunnel Records

There are genres that seemingly are so heavily steeped in tradition and customs that it is hard to imagine to hear a new sound in them. Take Irish Folk for example; most of us at first might associate it with pub nights somewhere between the Dubliners and Christy Moore (at best) or Michael Flatley and Enya (at worst). But to combine the traditional folk instruments bodhran, flute, violin, and guitar with a wall of sound, lots of spoken word (not cheerfully and rhythmically, but rather intimidating and fierceful) is something rarely heard before. Tuatha is a fierce project that will leave some of us open-mouthed. Formed in early 2019 and already a rising star on the scene, the septet uses old Irish tales from the Middle Ages and Gaelic Dindsenchas (short poems describing certain places) to deepen their already impressive style. In parts, their unrelentless approach reminds one of the approach Archive and SubRosa took in totally different musical landscapes. This here is unique, bewitching and typical Irish yet also totally un-Irish. Folks, give Tuatha a listen!

sludge / doom

A quartet from Phoenix, Arizona with a very grainy, heavy sound, Mosara released their debut demo last November. It shall be a prelude to a record which is in the making and should see the light of day before the end of the year; of course the demo should also draw interest from labels and I think it might: The musical soundscape is strongly influenced by a lot of proto-metal like Sabbath, Blue Cheer, but also by classic doom bands like Electric Wizard or Cough – that means, you get what you expect, low-tuned, richly-distorted, grainy, a bit lofi-ish doom sounds with a tinge of sludge influences (most audible on the second track “Clay and Iron”). Sometimes the howls and growls could be a bit fiercer and less despaired because, sometimes, Tony Gallegos (ex-Twingiant) is a bit too clear. Nevertheless the sound is great, as if someone mated Fu Manchu with Sabbath and their offspring was left in the desert with a guitar as the only means of communication. The riffs are dragging, the bass is dominant, the drums are supportive – all good in the Arizona desert. 

death metal / black metal / doom / noise / grindcore

Noise bastard? Yeah. Death metal? Sometimes. Grindcore? For sure. Doomy Gloom? You bet. All of that and more is “Tellurian Insurgency” by Ploughshare. With their third release in as many years (after 2017’s “Literature of Piss” and 2018’s acclaimed “In Offal, Salvation”) the quartet from Australia’s capital Canberra once again proves that the bar is always too low for them. Excellent musicians with a highly complex understanding of how music works they show that extreme metal must also rely on atmosphere that sometimes exists between the chords and blastbeasts. A great deal of the attraction of this band is the vocals, which never sound cheesy but quite on point. This EP also features a remix of their standout song, the title track of “In Offal, Salvation”, which shows that it is even possible to give this dark nightmare of a song an even more desperate twist. One thing that becomes clear throughout the record is how important good drumming is for such a kind of music as it must set the tone for everyone. If the guys can keep up their productivity we should await a new heir to the extreme metal throne in 2020.

industrial

Describing this Oakland, CA, quartet is not that easy and not that difficult at the same time. Their sound relies heavily on synths, samples but also on guitar, bass and drums. They cross constantly between electronic noise (aka industrial) and post-punk’ish avantgarde sounds. Initiated in 2013 and having independently released already a bunch of records, Lament Cityscape set out to publish three EPs in 2020, each following some red thread and yet also standing out on its own. Something that they share with some of the pioneers of this kind of sonic assault (Godflesh, Killing Joke, Author & Punisher) are the harsh sounds that sometimes remind one of buoys warning the oncoming ships of the nearby rocks and sandbanks which here are symbolized by the rough drum attacks. In parts, this is a good record for those who like Godflesh’s Streetcleaner a bit less polished and a bit more straightforward. Partially, one is left behind by a lack of surprise, but fans of industrial noises and harsh synth-driven drums will really like this.

black metal

At first, the band’s name might sound like a nice pun on 80s karate flic “Bloodsport” (with the amazing multiple Academy Award winning actor Jean-Claude van Shakespeare) but when listening to this new face on renown Swedish Meta label Blood Harvest it becomes clear that the idea of a fungi which sits parasitically on its host and feeds of it before finally killing it works perfectly within the black metal community. It also works nicely because the record to it is really good and leaves one’s ears with an immediate wish to press replay because of its clever changes in mood, dynamics and tempi. The record (especially the second track “Cede to the Saprophyte”) is like a nice blend of groove metal and black metal with the emphasis, of course, on the latter. Thematically, the record presents the idea of the fungal mass on this planet slowly but certainly taking over and destroying all other organisms, a new take on the apocalyptic visions presented by bands like Botanist or Arx Atrata. For a band that only came together in 2018, this is really somewhat impressive. 


​Thorsten

electronic / avantgarde

There are a few artists out there whose productivity and oeuvre are really hard to grasp in its utter madness. Zappa released more than 60 records, there are probably more than 200 Pearl Jam live-archive records released by the band itself, Bach composed way too many works for anybody to fully understand it, and then there are the noise artists of the last 30 to 40 years. And then there is KK Null. 

An artist who has worked on several important records and projects, Zeni Geva probably being his most well-known band, KK Null by now has worked on more 150 releases – either his solo work or the work with his band projects. For 2019 alone, discogs lists 16 albums and several smaller works! Talk about a restless person; nevertheless, if you look at his personal FB page you will see a man who is at peace with himself and who seeks peace. However, if you listen to his work, you will get a totally different feeling – one of unrest, of distress, of disharmonic chaos.

Interestingly, he performs the music for himself rather than for anybody else. You can’t cope with it? Your problem. Need any kind of information what he sounds like? Take Aphex Twin’s noisy snippets that jump in from the side and then flirr upwards into nothingness, only to come back down even noisier; take Atari Teenage Riots industrial drums but speed them up until they are merely one line on the oscilloscope; take the guitar riffs used by bands like Boris but take out the doom and turn it into gut-wrenching miniscule attacks on each of your nerves. Take all of this and take your time. 

Because, KK Null’s work needs time. On short listen to “Great Attractor” exemplifies all of this: You cannot grasp the “beauty” of it if you do not sit down and let the sounds wash over you. There is so much to absorb in this sound-verse that either you immerse yourself subconsciously into it until your heart stops trying to follow any form of drum pattern and you just feel it. Or you try to sit down and analyze everything that is happening – albeit, the latter is definitely the road to madness. The beats on the two tracks (one 22 minutes, the other 29 minutes!!!) do not remain steady they overlap each over; the noise elements do not connect to a larger unity, they separate themselves because they are loners. Only our mind and soul can bring all of this together. A hell of a work, a hell of a reward. 


Thorsten

electronic / space ambient

Exosphere Music

Woodland Structure is an album released on October 27, by Exosphere, a sublabel of American Synphaera Records. Work of British-based space ambient sound artist Sean Costello — under the alias Isostatic —, Woodland Structure is a formidably serene, magnificent work of art, whose delightfully pleasant, sometimes lethargic sonorous atmospheres conceive a world of homogeneous tranquility, where everything is made to renew calmness as a primary element of reality, but without renouncing to the exhilarating power of sensible harmonious dissonances, that reinvigorates the dispersive fragrances of the melodies, to be perceived as a distinct degree of colorful vitalities.  

With eight tracks — 1) Canopy; 2) Woodland Wakes; 3) Hollow Oak; 4) Falling Leaf; 5) Glade; 6) Sycamore Seeds; 7) Ash; 8) Woodland Sleeps; — the general anatomy of the music is simple, but full of vitality and splendor; with a creative guideline that can be as profusely versatile as discreetly diffuse, the artist's proficiency is displayed on the technical sensibilities and stylistic expansion of the melodies, that anticipates the major horizontal distinctions between the restless boundaries of the harmonies, and the serene formalism of the musical tonalities, that imperceptibly converge to make the sound more dilated, cohesive and clean, as the essence of its consistency gradually becomes more and more defined. 

The salutary serenity of the harmonies dive deep into the dark realm of its sonorous vicissitudes; but with an impeccable technical disposition, Isostatic delivers to the listener a more virtuous version of reality, that is entirely subjugated by the proverbial sensibilities of sound. With a subjective system of dispersive possibilities delineated by an intricate pattern of smooth sonorous cosmogonies, the musical diagram established by the artist can be perceived as being somewhat restricted, given the structural standards of his continuously expanding atmospheres; nevertheless, the abstract tensions subtly dispersed by his diligently sculpted harmonious configurations deliberately increases the value of his spectral dissonances, that grow over the renitent distensions of its own dense and dynamic vastness. 

With amazingly crafted tracks — that reverberates over the vicinities of its own splendid and serene, but distinctive and protuberant densities —, Woodland Structure, by Isostatic, is one of the most marvelous, pungent and genuinely sensible records recently released by Exosphere. With a vigorously impeccable and consistent, but at the same time soft and organic atmosphere, Isostatic conceives a delightful world of personal solitude, where everything that is human is celebrated in an introspective realm of purely existential fugacious light. 


Wagner

experimental / electronic / dark ambient / ambient / noise 

Nostalgie De La Boue

The world is all that is​.​.. is the most recent release by German electronic underground experimental noise artist Hans Castrup. With six tracks — The concept of sinking, Popular imagination, Full of used notes, Paradox difference, Clarification of geometry and Upon a hill —, on this work, like his previous albums, Hans continues to dive deep into a realm of lugubrious, melancholic and sinister sound experiences, where he clearly heads towards a stylistic direction of impious, responsive, nihilist and fatalist demise. Each and every album released by Hans Castrup seems to be the perfect soundtrack for a H.P. Lovecraft horror story. 

Already in the first track, the dense, epic and monumental The concept of sinking, we clearly see that the artist — deliberately or not — establishes his creative efforts towards a prominently dark ambient musical cosmogony. With pulsating, almost afflictive sonorous reverberations, the sensitive pluralism that emanates from the expansive and digressive agonies that subtlety comes out of these tracks certainly makes this album one of the darkest in the artist's discography. 

Nevertheless, there is also a lighter side in the music — albeit ostensibly dispersive —, that sounds as a more discreet, reasonable, proverbial uneasiness allocated in the background, that ocasionally flirts with our projective sensibilities, gracefully establishing an harmonious pattern that can be as decisively obscure as it is delightfully stimulating. 

The music gradually reveals itself as it is: as complex — in the darker depths of its relentless and dissolute darkness —, as it is majestically simple and objective, in the way it calmly delivers its pungent and uneventful dimension of poingnant mortality smoothly to the listener. Just as impressive is Hans' remarkable ability to progressively reinvent his music with more diluted elements, while never losing his virtuous and graceful sonorous identity. 

With the conception of an exceedingly dense, cohesive and robust musical atmosphere, it looks like Hans Castrup has crafted The world is all that is​.​.. as a pervasive parallel dimension destitute of acessible colorful sensibilities, whose mandatory elements are all indebted to a relentless and abrasive sonorous tissue, made entirely of an unforgiving, infinite and ruthless demise. 

As the perfect sonorous background for a surreal hallucinatory black and white alternate reality — like the ones shown in old sixties television anthology series like The Twilight Zone and One Step Beyond —, the music conceived on this marvelous album by Hans Castrup transports us to a whole different, more diluted, arbitrary and conspicuous diagram of existence, where the fugacious ephemeralities of life seems dormant, because they were never what they seemed to be, in the first place. 

Your sensitivities will be all confused, before they would be entirely configured in a completely different sonorous perception, diametrically opposite to what you had expected. In the end, The world is all that is​.​..  is a fantastic descent into a world of gloom, solitude and demise, without any possibilities to return. 


Wagner

darkwave / alternative 

I've always been rather fascinated by male/female duos working on music together. Here in our little country, there are the electronic couples of Vive La Fète and Nid & Sancy. English duo The KVB have been delivering high quality new wave tunes for quite some time now, and let's never forget about Eurythmics.

For the record, I do not know if these duos are real life couples or not, but you have to admit, sometimes something magical can come forth from the chemistry between a man and a woman. Let's just be glad that they mostly deliver music, not babies.

Tempers is a duo from New York. 'Private Life' is their third album already, and I can imagine how it came to life, especially if I look at the album cover. Jasmine Golestaneh and Eddie Cooper, hanging out in their living room, bored with their day jobs and superficial friends. They remember having a bunch of synths, guitars and whatnot standing there so the just start jamming. Shortly into their jam session, the entire neighborhood is drenched into a gloomy atmosphere but everybody is simply dancing. First and foremost those who grew up with the synth pop and dark wave from the eighties.

Because that is exactly where 'Private Life' is heading to. From opener 'Capital Pains' to the gnawing ambient tune at the end, 'Exit', this album is a tribute to the dark eighties. We do not have to wait long to find a first highlight, by the way. That is 'Leonard Cohen Afterworld', a slowly meandering dance tune that will wake up the goth in many forty year olds. That being said. Most of the music here is perfectly suited for the dark dancefloor, but if you're one of those people who like to drown in nostalgia and melancholy, these songs work just a well. I mean, if 'Piece Of Mind' doesn't bring back those black dyed tears, nothing will.

I mentioned a couple of acts in the beginning of this review, mostly to compare Tempers with other man/woman acts, but as far as influences are concerned, I need to add bands like Tubeway Army, Suicide, Joy Division and so on. In the more recent regions of dark electronic music, Tempers would fit right next to acts like Austra. 'Daydreams' is my personal favorite, perhaps also one of the speediest tunes here. I love this repetitive hammering and the emotive vocals, which even bring some old 4AD bands to mind. Follower 'Guidance' seems to take some DAF electronics into the mix, along with dance elements from the nineties. Again, a splendid idea.

Well, I guess by now you should know if this is an album to add to your collection. If you're a dark eighties addict, the answer is a resounding "yes". If you are one of those people who feel that modern day electronic music is just too unimaginative, emotionless and stale, allow Tempers to change your mind. This album is a pleasure to listen to, to shake your ass to and to reminisce about those good old days of dancing to the darkest of beats.


​Serge

experimental / breakcore / electronic

The stubborn musical act Mathlovsky has  already dumped his second release, Phantoms, in our mailbox this year. This creative artist from Ghent Belgium is also the drummer of the black/post metal trio Kuar Nhial. He has a huge library of recordings that are ready to escape from the dark digital memory banks. According to Mathlovsky Phantoms contains ten tracks, in fact misfits, that remained between two different worlds and actually don't belong anywhere.

A bombardment of pounding hard core sets immediately the tone of this album. The subtly balanced crackling is interwoven with all kinds of samples and invites switching into a rave overdrive. Mathlovsky remains an unpredictable sound artist. Various styles are seamlessly stitched together into compelling tracks full of adventurous excesses. Break beat, electro, dark step and dub are cooked into a stew with spiced delicacies.

From breakcore beats with fiddling squeaks and soundscapes to a dub track that comes very close to Burial (Online Cult Leader). Mathlovsky stands for variety.  ‘That Remix I Made For Despoilah’ gives some space for quieter and floating atmospheres with a cinematic outcome. The spaghetti western melody at the end of this resting point bears witness to an approach with a very broad taste in music styles.

The pumping, contrary wire percussion is omnipresent and Mathlovsky is not tempted to fall into the cliche trap. He provides enough input to furnish every track with razor-sharp edges. On the last two tracks Mathlovsky takes his guitar by the hand to provide the pumping beats with surprising string chords.

On Veganopticon, in our opinion the apotheosis on this collection of misfits, all registers are opened and a new kind of metal break core is forged. Heavy, screaming guitar riffs with drums (and beats) are adorned with gargling death metal vocals into a black burnt porridge of sound. The added ethereal vocal lines and the experimental post-rock tending ending on this last track of Phantoms show once again that this Belgian artist embraces various (extreme)styles of music. 
Mathlovsky will not be everyone's friend with this crazy collection of tracks but we are wild about this unpredictable release. This edition is only available in digital format on the artists Bandcamp page.


​Patsker

electronic / synthpop

And now for something a wee-bit different. We don't often review dark pop albums here on Merchants Of Air but this one is too enjoyable to be ignored. Besides, a good friend of mine has just walked in and he loves this kind of music. So right now I'm going to write a review using tips, hints and references from Stephan. 

The Bedroom Witch, a dark pop project of Los Angeles-based recording and performance artist Sepehr Mashiahof. On 'Diaspora' the artist investigates the Bedroom Witch’s origin story as an Iranian-American Trans Woman. The result is an intriguing collection of electronic tunes.

The music on 'Diaspora' ranges from gloomy trip-hop over electronic dance tunes to new wave inspired synthpop. In fact, the first band that comes to mind is Depeche Mode. Not only in the nature of the music but mainly in the vocal lines. Here and there it seems like Dave Gahan is singing. 'At The Gates' could be a Depeche Mode hit. It's also one of my personal favorites here. My buddy Stephan also recognizes influences from Peter Gabriel and I like to add Zola Jesus to that mix. Synthpop galore, so to speak. 

The album opens with 'Shadow Self', using electronic sequences and impending beats before the vocals appear. 'She Told Me She Feels Alone' is a lingering dark synth tune with piteous vocals. The first real highlight is 'Sea Of Insects', a dance tune that opens like Front 242 and swiftly evolves into a potential Pet Shop Boys song. The Influences from the eighties are perfectly clear on 'Diaspora'. That's for sure. An certain moments even Madonna came to mind. Don't ask me why.

Another favorite of mine is 'Shapeshifter', a highly danceable piece of music with gloomy overtones and playful synths. This is a potential fan favorite, I think, but in all honesty, I do not know that much about this region of the musical spectrum. All I know is that 'Diaspora' is a more than decent album, with some highly convincing tunes. If you are a fan of synthpop, you should not miss out on it.


Serge

electronic / ambient

Exosphere Music

Interactivity is an album released on September 24, by Exosphere, a sublabel of Synphaera Records. The work of a masterfully cohesive and skillfully mininalist electronic music artist known as K. Markov, the record has five tracks, all of them more than twelve minutes long. They are: 1) Mind Control; 2) Interactivity; 3) Grand Illusion; 4) Reverse Evolution; 5) Inner Alchemy; with expressive, sensible and overwhelmingly graceful and sinister melodies, the music of K. Markov is primarily engraved by majestically obscure tonalities, that get lost in a cosmogony of dehydrated harmonious indulgencies, that play with the dense and diffusive atmosphere of its own dispersive, abrasive and suggestive style. 

With an ascending, imperative and methodic musical style — whose horizontal vicissitudes alternate between the horizon of its own liquid harmonies and the temporal rationality of its own elemental serenity —, Interactivity immediately reveals itself to be a groundbreaking, genuine, affirmative album, that plays in the space of its sonorous resolutions the demands of deliberately diluted clinical textures, whose resonances perfectly dilapidates the dynamic synchronicity of its discreet catalyst nature.  

Despite the fact that — at least in some moments — the artist falls in ordinary and predictable musical territory, its impossible to deny the prominence of the greatness, the accuracy and the originality of his style, that invariably prevails throughout the album; cultivating beauty in shape and also in the epic length of the songs, each track seems to be a surreal psychological journey towards a distant, fantastic and undisputed universe, where light and sound defines in the vividness of its colossal tenacity the organic tenderness of its pluralistic vitality. In fact, each song sounds like an anthem to the glory of the universe, a personal testimony of striking authenticity, that transpires in the strength of its genuine sonorous graciousness the effective sensibility of an introspective paradoxical beauty, forever lost in the tempestuous darkness of the cosmos.   

Undoubtedly a marvelous album — that has all the necessary elements precisely aligned to make it outstanding —, the original vitality and the spectacular creativity of the artist has crafted an exceptionally formidable and expressively genuine work of art. Interactivity reveals itself to be a marvelous record all the way through, with a mordacious display of sinister overtones, that definitely makes all of its sonorous devices to feel arbitrarily real, at least in our most audacious, unpredictable and turbulent dreams.  


​Wagner