Kron

Happy new year everyone! Blessed be.

It's been some time since my last post... I've been out for some time, things happen, you know. For your back-to-work or -school coming down, this is a triple pack by Kron, an artist better known as Reinhard Voigt, brother of Wolfgang and another key figure in the development of the Cologne sound. I noticed they don't circulate much, so there.
Not much more to say, these are the two albums and a remix CD single. As usually, he manages to create full ambience out of a few repeated loops, maximizing the effect by sending everything into a shimmering abyss of reverb, still the feeling is rarely obviously dark (check his releases as Sturm for the more deepspace/darkforest sound). The interesting thing in the Kron records is that he often escapes the deep techno minimalism or the wall-of-sound ambiences that later defined the Pop Ambient idiom. He's exploring downtempo electronic breaks territory with an almost jazzy approach, a reference to the old(er)school class of Air Liquide, etc. But the sounds are of course detuned violin samples and the like and drum loops lock in rhythms out of a scholar's book or a madman's imagination, so it all goes a bit weird but never disquieting. Well, not never... But he's not called Sweet Reinhard for nothing.


Kron - 1998 Gold Und Liebe
Part 1 - Part 2
Info here.


Kron - 1998 Die Remixe
Here.
Info here.


Kron - 1999 Silikron
Here.
Info here. Track 6 is missing (scratched CD, sorry).

Hacker

A typical Rother release, the 'Hacker' album went out on Psi49Net. Even more brooding, mechanical and fat than previous records, signifies more or less the peak of his dark electrofunk mannerisms. 'Die Macht' was like a hit, almost, and in a strange way paved the way for the first moves of Datapunk or his later releases in Cocoon.
I think Rother pays a small homage to Clock DVA here, using the obvious track name as a title. And maybe I'm seeing too much there, but another thing he borrowed is the idea of a concept through every track in the album (a thing he did from day one in 'Sex With The Machines'), something which Clock DVA were not the first to do but surely did it good.

Antony Rother - 2002, Hacker
Part 1 - Part 2
Info here.

No Sign Of Bad

Actually I didn't knew these guys until last year, when I first heard at a record shop the 'Chapter One' 12'' (with a Trentemoeller remix) where a serious Roots voice (that of Jah Bobby) describes the history of a certain carribean island over a heavy techno dub bass, and the whole thing hit home. A must, the original. Later I came upon this album (somewhere at NoNaMe.ru, I think) and a Quango 12''.

And what's with these northern guys and dub? And why do they do it so well? Maybe it's just the weed is good and plenty, or that they live relaxed and good lives. Or it's just the crappy weather and the time they have to spent indoors (DJ T-1000 said that for Detroit and Finland, not me). Anyway. At least one of them has now moved to LA, I think, so the Dane character will soon fade, eh?

More or less it's a downtempo album, but don't mistake it for a 'chill out' one (even though a lot of said compilations include tracks of them). They combine the northern style in volume, crispiness and quality of production with the natural flow of the more roots oriented dub bands. They play instruments and use some good vocalists. Some times they sound almost reggae-ish, others they remind me of Rhythm & Sound and Pole (and that's a huge compliment). When they go for the beat they bring to mind other Danish guys like Trentemoeller or Martinez. And they can also go ragga. Quality.

This one went out in Panamericana (their label, obviously) but soon got re-released in Music For Dreams and later in Quango with different playlist (the dark dubs 'Darkness' and 'Ragga Foo' are replaced and the hidden track is missing). This is the Panam one, though the track order is a bit messed up (I noticed it only when I checked the Discogs page, sorry). It's a bit rare but at the same time the only one floating at times around the net. Here are also the tracks of Quango 12'', a massive bass mix by Def Jaguar (aka Djuma Soundsystem aka Ben Horn) and a more housey affair by Parov Stelar.

Djosos Krost - 2005, No Sign Of Bad
CD: Part 1 - Part 2
Info here.
Djosos Krost - 2006, No Sign Of Bad Remixes
12'': Here.
Info here.

And while we 're on the Northern Dub thing, for some mixes check this. Finn guy, not recently updated site but excellent dubs, electronics and disco. What more?

I don't really feel good to post something easy to find as this 12'' is, I just think that they are not as known as they should be and the Def Jaguar remix is really good. If you like it, buy the actual record (or keep striving towards the extinction of vinyl in a very few years).

U.M.O. 2

Unidentified Musical Objects is a collaboration project between Adel Dior, Cem Oral and Terrible. This one was released in Caipirinha, in the year of their lord 1997.

Adel Dior is an important member of the Berlin scene for a long long time, mostly known through his collaboration with Fabian Feyerabendt of TokTok fame as Autotune (now they've split). They released mostly in Low Spirit, Beroshima's Mueller Records and later Woody's Fumakilla, and they helped a lot Miss Allien in the beginning of BPitch (check here the credits of the first 30 or something releases).
Cem Oral aka Jammin Unit, member (with Ingmar Koch or Dr.Walker) of Air Liquide is a top electronic musician. It's hard to pinpoint him as an artist, as he has done more things than a hundred others more well known, and they're so different between them... The only common between all of them seems to be his obvious love for acid.
Terrible seems to be a friend and occasional collaborator of them. I didn't know him , so read it out of discogs.
Participating in this album is Cem's brother, Can (Khan) and long time collaborator Roger C. aka Kerosene and Zulutronic.

Expect to listen to some weird breaks, hip hop mentality and acidic lines and a lot of distorted sounds, some exquisite programming and organic mixing. Consider these guys to be the fathers of the style that was later further developed by Funkstoerung. Personal favorite is electro-infected 'Ox'.

U.M.O. - 1997, 2
Part 1 - Part 2
Info here.

Mixmasters Live

A blast from the past. Issued in 1993 on tape, re-printed 1996 on CD.
Paterson's mix is a typical Orb-ish construction, where everything that might be considered interesting to hear is thrown in a reverb and some more samples are put on top. Still it's just four tracks plus FX, interesting if you don't have it but nothing special really (btw, The Orb is one of my favorite groups since the beginning).
I posted this one is because of the Mixmaster Morris mix. Few people have claimed the title of mixmaster and deserved it, but Morris Gould does it rightly since the late '80s. In this mix, he's playing mostly stuff from the Fax label, blending multiple sources and probably using effect units. When you listen to it, remember it's still the early '90s, no mixers with FX built in or fancy cut buttons, no zooms and no laptops. It's only half an hour long, but I remember I used to put it on repeat and let it play for long. All ambient fans should check it. Regardless if you like MMMorris as a person or as an artist or not (though I haven't met him personally, I don't), he was one of the best Mixers. I hope he still has it, I haven't heard any mixes of his for some time now...
He released few albums in Rising High and Ninja Tune as The Irresistible Force, and he's involved in the Big Chill festival and label.

Alex Paterson & Mixmaster Morris - 1993, Mixmag Live Vol.9
Part 1 - Part 2
Info here.

99 Rooms

I found this in an old post on the blog of G1zmo.

Quiz #2 B

Same guy in a more typical pose. Is it easier to find him now?

Electrilogy +

Carl A. Finlow is also known as Random Factor, Silicon Scally and Voice Stealer. His collaborations with others have been mostly with Ralph Lawson, owner of 20:20Vision label, and/or Daz Quayle (of IL.EK.TRO fame).

His music is like a sweet kind of electro funk; sometimes retro, sometimes housey (obviously his other great love is Chicago). Sometimes he just goes for the dancefloor, sometimes for the headphones, sometimes bordering on cheesy '80s pop but never reaching there. My soft spot is some tracks and remixes he's done for Playhouse, like 'Broken Mirror' or the reprise on Blaze's 'Lovelee Dae' (oh gods...).
The one thing you could say about him for sure is that he's tireless. Lots and lots of tracks and remixes come from him under other names and they never fail the standards he has set really high. I hope he keeps it up like this.

This is one of his lesser known projects, a trilogy of 12"s out on Device (it's been some years since its last release, I think) with three extra tracks as a CD bonus. Pure electro forms mostly for listening, blended with some '80s pop elements and a touch of '90s electronica. Solid and good for personal moments.

Carl A. Finlow - 2003 Electrilogy +
Part 1 - Part 2
Info here.

Aer (Valid)

Uwe Zahn aka Arovane or Nedjev has been a personal favorite since the DIN days, when he was releasing early stuff with the likes of Dynamo/T++, Monolake and Pole.
Although a lot of people at the time classified him as an(other) Autechre imitator, his roots go way back, he's definitely more tranquil and anyway his mentality and the songs' feeling have more to do with the typical Berlin sound melancholy than with the british duo. After DIN he released mostly in City Centre Offices, one of a group of Berlin-based labels that combine IDM forms with pop aesthetics, like (almost sister label) Morr Music or the more experimental Lux Nigra. There he defined his style of dreamy electronics with attention to sonic details, yet without exaggerations.
He also released this one with Phonem, an Englishman I had noticed by his output in Morr Music, which I remember as a combination of broken dirty glitchy breakbeats and underwater-like strings. It went out in Vertical Form, an interesting UK label that focused on the more glitchy minimal experimental side of IDM.

Arovane_Phonem - 2001 Aer (Valid)
Info here.

Process

Caipirinha Productions is a NYC based company which published several short and two very interesting long play video documentaries, 'Synthetic Pleasures' and 'Modulations', the second being an honest and well delivered attempt to define modern/electronic music. Caipirinha Music has released stuff from a variety of artists, either top American sound explorers (and techno freaks) like Terre Thaemlitz, DJ Spooky, Si Begg, T.Dupree - S.Ysatis- T.Inoue (the Instinct posse), Dietrich Schoenemann and the mighty Khan, or first class German experimentalists (and techno freaks) like Adel Dior of Autotune, Cem Oral aka Jammin' Unit of Air Liquide, Kerosene, etc., etc. Of course lots of others have a track or two in the numerous compilations the label released, better known of which are 'Synthetic Pleasures' Vol.1 & Vol.2.

Although at the beginning the output was mostly experimental techno and weird ambient and breaks, later on Caipirinha turned almost exclusively towards d'n'b and extreme US-flavored IDM releases (Datach'i, Panacea, DJ Spooky), and at the same time released thematic compilations. This is a weird techno compilation from the early years, focusing on the process of creating a track. Contains experimental beats by the likes of Friedmann, Mika Vainio, Si Begg alongside some pure and hard techno bangers from Steve Stoll, Surgeon, Freddie Fresh and Subhead. It may be difficult for the average listener, but it was a request (the rest will follow), it's rare, and Khan's deep house track is smooth enough to lure anybody.

VA - 1997 Process
Part 1 - Part 2
Info here.

I had the films on VHS, now long gone (taken...). Does anybody know where I can find a DVD (euro PAL, that is) copy?

Soundtrack Saga

Peter Benisch aka FPU of a previous post, released in Turbo this magnificent ambient album in 2001.

Actually, whatever I wrote on Traxxdata applies here as well, it's just the musical form that's different. Instead of electro techno pop, Pete Benisch chooses to mute almost all beats and focus on long pads, shimmering reverbs and simple yet beautiful melodies. His music still sounds melancholic, clear and you can almost hear the sound of snow falling outside his window as he composes these tracks. Nothing extremely new or cutting-edge here, for some it's just good chill-out music. For me it's an album that it's full and compact, with personal character and above all beauty. And it's a personal favourite. So here it is .

Peter Benisch - 2001, Soundtrack Saga
Part 1 - Part 2
Info here.