Ahead of the physical release of William Basinski‘s new record, he returns months before with some intense live sessions of „One Time Out Of Time“. The album subtext is about the sexual union of two black holes. The source material is derived from gravitational waves that occurred when two neutron stars hit each other.
William Basinski’s carrear goes back until the late 1980s, but only in the 21st century he was finally recognized and exalted for his excellent work. 9/11 might changes everything. It‘s not only a terrible day of history, it‘s also the birth of one of the greatest ambient records „The Disintegration Loops“. It’s a fragile ambient set, recorded from crumbling magnetic tapes shortly before 9/11, that he paired with a haunting video of Manhattan’s damaged skyline, shot from his Brooklyn rooftop. After that Basinski released a lot of stuff included cooperations with artists like Lawrence English and Richard Chartier. Back in 2018 William Basinski presents „One Time Out Of Time“ also at the Greatest Hits festival in Hamburg. The location is a great spot for intimate live performances, so it fits perfect for Basinski. The album includes 7 Tracks (1.1 to 1.7) and goes around 40 minutes. His new record is all about space and it feels weightless in almost every tone. Basinski is a master to combine loops and melodies in a perfect way. „One Time Out Of Time“ is also an epic space odessey. A journey in seven different captures. Each with it‘s one signature. For me the album only works as a whole piece except the non album track „4(E+D)4(ER=EPR)“.
Australian experimental / electronic artist Ben Frost releases his first new record since “Aurora” from 2014. The new album “The Centre Cannot Hold” was co-produced by Steve Albini in Chicago. If you look back at the predecessor “Aurora” you can find similarties like the excellent pounding “Venter”, but the new records goes way further.
The way he creates music is very special in a disturbing way! That becomes conscious if you visit a live performance by Frost himself. Fortunately Ben Frost plays two years ago at Hamburg, Kampnagel as part of the ePhil Extended. If you have the change to see him live, you have to visit a concert. The live shows are totally mindblowing! The new record is a step further, it is a tremendous record from start to finish. How disturbing “The Centre Cannot Hold” could be, is already known if you listen to the first track “Threshold Of Faith”. One of the true strength on the new one is the density in quality. Ben Frost succeeds to top the great predecessor “Aurora” (One of my favourite records in 2014) in a tremendous way. Clearly the music of Frost is totally independent and in 2017 there is maybe only one compareable record from Jushua Sabin, the awesome “Terminus Drift” (Reviewed in March 2017). It is very difficult to marks highlights on “The Centre Cannot Hold” but there are some exceptions apart from the opening track. “A Sharp Blow In Passing” shines in the second half when the starlight synthy comes to the foreground! “Ionia” starts as a slow one and builds a drone framework only to explode in the last part. “Entrophy in Blue” operates in a different way. It has it’s own very dark post-apocalyptic touch to complete this new masterpiece. There is no doubt that “The Centre Cannot Hold” is one of the best records in 2017!
Nowadays we live in an fast moving world. Our everyday life is stressfull, challenging and always changing. With “Lignin Poise” the Seattle based artist Benoît Pioulard draws a musically statement. It works perfectaly to relax and hide your environment.
The strengh of a good ambient / drone record is to explore different tones. The variation isn’t very notable but the details shines from every corner. “Lignin Poise” cunjunct classical drone elemnts with a bunch of field recording parts. His previous works were released on the Chicago based experimental label Kranky (also home of Stars of the Lid, Tim Hecker, Loscil). The music from Pioulard is comparable to the works of colleague Rafael Anton Irisarri, so it’s not astonishing that both also works together and Irisarri mastered “Lignin Poise”. And yes, that’s very notable! “Lignin Poise” seems like a addition to Irisarri’s own record “The Shameless Years”. As I already mentioned in my review for “The Shameless Years” Irisarri has his complete own identity to create ambient music. In this regards Benoît Pioulard follows a similar approach. I’m not as long in this genre like other people but it looks that this year is really special in new ambient and drone music. This year goes to the end in the next days, so the typically years end lists hits the web. For me “Lignin Poise” should also find a way into it because it is another extraordinary drone record in 2017.
Daniel Victor Snaith has many names in the music business. He started his career as Manitoba in 2001. But after being threatened with a lawsuit by Richard “Handsome Dick” Manitoba, Snaith changed his performance name to Caribou. He is also knwon as Caribou and Daphni.
Since 2001 he released 8 records and a bunch of EPs and Singles. As Daphni he discoverd a more club friendly environment compared to Caribou. He also collaborates with artists like Four Tet, Floating Points, Joy Orbison or Jamie xx. In the last couple of years Snaith pushes his career as a DJ. He playes as a main actor on the Fabric Live series or the yearly iteration of the Warehouse Project in Manchester. With Daphni, Snaith started back in 2012 with the debut “Jiaolong”. “Jiaolong” combined club music with elements of world music in an intresting way. Outstanding are the two album cuts “Ye Ye” and “Ahora”! His new one “Joli Mai” is less extraordinary than “Jiaolong” but not less interesting. Yes, it’s still club music but it goes more in the IDM direction of electronic music. This was clarified by album openers “Poly” and “Face to Face” while the softly bass driven “Carry On” could also appers on a past Caribou record! “Vulture” shines with a unusual Blade Runner like sequence in the middle. Because of the great rhythm driven feeling, “Joli Mai” shines on almost every single track. Another great, nearly flat house track is “The Truth”! It is realy great to have a new Four Tet and a new Daphni in just one month.
Two years after “Morning/Evening” Kieran Hebden alias Four Tet returns with a new album on it’s own imprint Text Records. His last record from 2015 was completely different compares with his predecessors in almost every way.
“Morning/Evening” was a two track only album. Both tracks has an extra ordinary runtime around 20 minutes. But that’s not the only special thing about this one. The incluences on “Morning/Evening” follows Kieran’s indian roots. That’s very notable on the Bollywood-styled intro from “Morning Side”. If you red my review from 2015 you know I’m not a big fan about the new direction. So, what’s happend on “New Energy”? His new one goes definitely back to the roots of the melody inspired Four Tet records. There is no doubt “Free Energy” is his best one until his masterpiece “There Is Love In You” and that’s a great success. “New Energy” starts with two of the best tracks on the record. The slow down beauty “Two Thousand and Seventeen” opens the flow perfectly until “LA Trance” focused more on a driven beat/bass sample. The bass here reminds me at some tracks from his single compilation “Pink” from 2012. Very nice! “Free Energy” follows the path of relaxed beats on almost every track. Another example is “Lush” with his catchy background feeling. “SW9 9SL” is a small exception, but not in a bad way. It starts with a catchy bass / club feeling and takes a break in the middle until the focus goes back in the end. A similar effect generated the final track “Planet” and marks a perfect completion for the record. “New Energy” contains 14 tracks and has almost no lengths. Well done Kieran Hebden!
We live in an era of reboots and predecessor movies. Nowadays the studios have great success with re-interpretations of known stories. If we look back in history there are only a few examples where part two outperforms the original. Mostly a few triologies like the classic Star Wars, Indiana Jones or Back to the Future marks an exception.
In these movies I never have the feeling of an non-essential addition or iteration in the follow-on parts. Every part shines on it’s on. Reboots are special in it’s own way. There are some popular brands from the past like Batman, Ghostbusters or Star Trek. We all love the original films with thier unique touch, but the reboots works only in rarely cases. In some cases the story itself isn’t the main problem. In some cases the originals doesn’t answer all the questions. But that’s not a bad thing and an open mistery for a few movies. And that’s also the case for the original Blade Runner back in 1982. The main story of Blade Runner tells us the story about officer Rick Deckard, an ex-cop and a so-called “Blade Runner”. Blade runners are people assigned to assassinate “replicants”. The replicants are androids that look like real human beings. These replicants commit a bloody mutiny on the Off World colony. So Deckard was called out of retirement to track down these androids. It’s all about the question: What’s the different between replicants and real humans?
The original movie becomes success only years later but nowadays Blade Runner was called as one of the revolutionary sci-fi movies in history. It’s a masterpiece from the past. The combination between screenplay, acting and atmosphere was outstanding from that period. For me, one of the most impressing elements is the camera work. It is very prominent in the last section of the movie where the lighting and shadow effects sets new standards. I’m very sceptical about a predecessor first because I believe that a follow on movie ruined the original.
The truth is, Blade Runner 2049 is a very good sequel and that’s because director Denis Villeneuve looks at every detail of the original. It takes place in the dark and rainy Los Angeles where officer K (Ryan Gosling) discovers the remains of a once-pregnant replicant. Finally K goes on to find former Blade Runner Deckard (Harrison Ford) to receive more information about his past. To prevent a possible war between replicants and humans, K is secretly tasked with finding the child and destroying all evidence related to it. Blade Runner 2049 is far away to described as a classical Hollywood movie. For me it’s clear why it’s not a post office hit: All scenes are relevant and full of so many fine details. This fact leads to an extraordinary runtime around 160 minutes. That’s definitely not a typically blockbuster runtime. The acting between Gosling and Ford works perfectly. Also Jared Leto as Niander Wallace convinced. I’m not a big sci-fi specialist but the ability to creates something new without ruin the original is by far a success. Blade Runner 2049 takes his time, builds a great story and delivers a unique atmopshere. That’s also because the compossed soundtrack by Hans Zimmer fits perfect in almost every scene. But that’s one of my few criticism. Originally composer Jóhann Jóhannsson should compose the movie soundtrack, but weeks before the completion Jóhannsson leaves the project. I really loves the renewed Blade Runner theme from the trailer, but it doesn’t appears in the movie itself.
Conclusion: Blade Runner 2049 is modern sci-fi movie packed with great elements from the past. To reconstruct all details of the original movie it makes definitely sense to watch the prequel again until you watched the new one. Of course the main story of Blade Runner delivers enough stuff to create a great movie but this fact doesn’t decrease the success by Villeneuve. Nowadays it is very difficult to convince the audience only by great acting, a good story or a unique atmosphere but in this case Blade Runner 2049 is a silent hit. One of the best sci-fi movies in 2017. I’m really impressed!
Ólafur Arnalds and Janus Rasmussen alias Kiasmos are back with another EP for Erased Tapes. After thier full-length debut back in 2014 the duo released also three EPs.
Kiasmos combines neo-classic with electronic elements in a perfect way. But that’s no wonder because both artists has his own completely different roots. Ólafur Arnalds has also released his 10th anniversary editon of “Eulogy for Evolution” in the past weeks. A review of that record will also appears in the next days. Thier newest EP called “Blurred” and entitled 4 new tracks and 2 re-works by Bonobo and Stimming. The EP follows the style of the predecessors: Neo-classic meets Electronic, so the beats matches the melodies perfectly. The best example for that is the self titled EP track “Blurred” with his own magical tone. Take a listen…
It’s been a while since Rafael Anton Irisarri released his last official record “A Fragile Geography” for the influential australian underground label Room40. But this situation has been changed this year. After the awesome collaboration “La Equidistancia” with Leandro Fresco back in April, Irissari released his new record “The Shameless Years” on the Mexico-based label Umor Rex.
Umor Rex is well known for experimental drone music. The distribution will handeld from Berlin and you can also buy records on tape. They offers a small but great collection of ambient / drone records. If you follow me for a while you will known that this kind of music isn’t for everyone. If you are fimilar with artist like Lawrence English, Tim Hecker or Alessandro Cortini you will also like Irisarri’s work. Back in 2016 Irissari hosts a small series of concerts around Europe. He also takes place at Berlin’s “KW Institute for Contemporary Art” in February. The venue matches the style of Irisarri’s music perfectly. It was an intimate small show with an astounding atmosphere. Realy difficult to explain in words but that’s the case if you are listening to his music. “The Shameless Years” follow the roots of his predecessors without to be a simple copy of that. The kind how Irisarri build a unique atmosphere hasn’t changed and if you are listening to “RH Negative” you will understand what I mean. It’s that kind of melody that floats above everything. How is it possible to build a “simple track” like that with an emotional peak like this?! In general it is difficult to describe drone / ambient music, but every artist has his own handwritten identity and that’s the same with Irisarri. 2017 is full of great drone / ambient records and “The Shameless Years” marks no exception. Extraordinary and highly recommended!
Back in 2012, Sam Haar and Zach Steinman alias Blondes released an brilliant psychedelic house record. It was also thier debut record for the small New York underground label RVNG Intl. At that time house music was definitely not my prefered genre. But this one was special in almost every perspective.
It’s near impossible to describe their use of synthesizers, sequencers, and drum machines, without getting in an euphoric mood. The best example for that reason is the double A-Side Single “Lover” / “Hater”. While “Lover” symbolized the pure catchiness as an house/techno/idm track, “Hater” isn’t quite completely different but the bass and background noises are simply impressive. Maybe the FADER live performances even tops the album versions. Anyway one year later Blondes released the great predecessor “Swisher” in 2013. Since them they released the one hour session track “Rein” and the small EP “Percussion” also for RVNG. With thier new release “Warmth”, Blondes jumps on the more dance and club oriented label R&S Records. At first, Blondes are even good in making house music but for me they loose some of the catchy elements of thier debut. Don’t get me wrong “Warmth” also includes great track, like the Four Tet styled “Clips”, the impressive “Quality of Live”, the deep bass track “Trust” and the single “KDM” but if you look at the entirely record there are some lengths. In the end “Warmth” isn’t a bad record but I have expected something more. Maybe next time?
War movies have a long history in cinema. There are some famous ones like Acopolype Now (1979) from Francis Ford Coppola or Full Metal Jacket (1987) from Standly Kubric. Both tells us a story in or around the vietnam war. Also in the modern days the topic war is still present. This will showen by movies like Saving private Ryan (1998) from Stevan Spielberg or the untypically Italian Western Inglourious Bastards (2009) from Quantin Tarantino. All of these movies are totally different in presentation. The question is, which intention will be focused, the war or the consequences of the war?
Like Tarantino, Christopher Nolan is one of the last directors with an strong focus on analog production. So there is no wonder that Dunkirk will be produced in 70mm. It is a high-resolution film gauge for still and motion picture photography, with higher resolution than the standard 35 mm motion picture film format. This makes totally sense if you look at the screensplay. In Dunkirk you will find a lot of scenes with the intension that only the pictures tell the story. These pictures are very detailed and full of shocking facts about war. There is no doubt that Dunkirk is a success if you look at the sound effects and camera screenplay. Also music composer Hans Zimmer adds an great minimal soundtrack.
The movie it self tells us three different stories. 1. The Mole: The perspective of the soldier Tommy played by Fionn Whitehead. It starts at the streets of Dunkirk as he was under attack by the germans. Later he met another young french soldier Gibson. Both support them each other in all different war scenarios. 2. The Sea: The secound one is about a family and the evacuation by sea. Mr Dawson played by Mark Rylance and his sons started thier own rescue mission without the help of the Royal Navy. This risky plan includes some dramatic experiences by sea. 3. The Air: The air strikes are focused on three Spitfires, piloted by Farrier, Collins and their Squadron Leader. They encounter German fighters and get into a dogfight, during which ‘Fortis Leader’ is shot down. Farrier assumes command, and although his fuel gauge is shattered, they continue towards France. His colleagues machine was damaged, so he have to fight still alone in the next attacking scenes.
Conclusion: If you expected a feature film you might be disappointed, because Dunkirk is very minimalistic and more an art movie than a normal story telling movie. And there is also the strengthen and the weaknesses. The presentation by screen and soundtrack is impressive because if you look in the younger past you will not pick a lot of movies with these strong intension. Nolan purports only the pictures and the story that results in. The thoughts of the protagonists can be imagine by the spectator himself. This results in a very personal an oppressive war movie that we haven’t seen until now!
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