ROD MODELL Schallplatten & CDs

Review: This expansive double pack from Silentes finds each side of vinyl taken up by one long, ever-evolving piece of music based around one original. Gianluca Favaron & Stefano Gentile go first with their take on 'Landslide,' which goes from whirring machines sounds to brain cleansing sine waves and found sound abstraction. Dub techno don Rod Modell explores emptiness on 'Landslide' (Reworked) and Carl Michael Von Hausswolf's take is an eerie one with scratchy textures and filtered synth meanderings. Rod Modell then closes out with another rework of his own remix that will leave you adrift in space.

Review: Gigi Masin and Rod Modell's Red Hair Girl At Lighthouse Beach finds two heavyweights of deep, meditative electronic music crossing paths and the results are as subtly spectacular as you would expect. Italian ambient composer and producer Masin has found widespread appreciation in recent years, not least since being released on Music From Memory, while Modell's continued devotion to dub techno is eternally probing at the possibilities of the genre. Combined, the pair create two extravagant, long-form pieces which draw the best out of their respective practices. The first pressings of this record unsurprisingly vanished quickly, but now Silentes are giving it a repress on red vinyl for those yet to connect with this instant classic.

Review: There have been some inspired link ups from Gigi Masin in the past few years, as the Italian ambient veteran enjoys a renewed appreciation and recognition from kindred spirits in the leftfield music community. Following collaborative albums with Jonny Nash and Greg Foat, Masin has been paired with Deepchord legend Rod Modell for this new album on Silentes sub-label 13. Modell has past form with Silentes, so he sounds right at home exercising his considerable gifts in the field of ambient dub techno, which billow out and unfurl around Masin's own glacial drift in mesmerising style on this stellar partnership. This is the highly limited, clear vinyl edition of Red Hair Girl At Lighthouse Beach.

Review: A meeting of minds, here, as new age ambient hero Gigi Masin amd dubbed-out audio explorer Rod Modell join forces for the very first time. It was something of a distant, hands-off collaboration, with each artist reworking an unreleased solo work by the other. Side A's 'Red Hair Girl at Lighthouse Beach' features Modell's characteristically hazy, crackling and deeply immersive interpretation of Masin's work - all bubbly electronics, dense layers of hiss, sparse and minimalistic whispers of ambient dub rhythm and yearning chords. In contrast, 'Summer Morning at Lighthouse Beach' sports Masin's distinct sonic stamp, with sun-up chords and dreamy textures being overlaid with twinkling, slow-motion electric piano solos. It's brilliantly blissful, all told.

Review: ***B-STOCK: Creasing to corner of outer sleeve, product unopened & in excellent condition***


Dub techno and ambient maestro Rod Modell resurfaces on Astral Industries with another of his gorgeously escapist double albums, pressed up to nice heavy 180g vinyl for extra listening pleasure. 'Track 1' has a widescreen and soothing quality with balmy synths swirling about next to spring-like bird calls. 'Track 2' is more dense, with lo-fi drones taking centre stage while 'Track 3' is darker and more menacing thanks to a more industrial aesthetic. It's back to light, hope and optimise with closer 'Track 4' which has glowing pads layered up to perfection.

Review: Dub techno and ambient maestro Rod Modell resurfaces on Astral Industries with another of his gorgeously escapist double albums, pressed up to nice heavy 180g vinyl for extra listening pleasure. 'Track 1' has a widescreen and soothing quality with balmy synths swirling about next to spring-like bird calls. 'Track 2' is more dense, with lo-fi drones taking centre stage while 'Track 3' is darker and more menacing thanks to a more industrial aesthetic. It's back to light, hope and optimise with closer 'Track 4' which has glowing pads layered up to perfection.

Review: Since opting to release more music under his given name, DeepChord man Rod Modell has largely stuck to dubbed-out ambience and heady drone soundscapes. His latest full-length is a little different, though, offering up club-focused cuts that mix his usual fuzzy aural textures and dub-fired motifs with up-tempo techno rhythms. By his standards, it's a very forthright set, with highlights including the noise-soaked stomp of "Reiki", the thrusting heaviness of "ITO", the hypnotic slam of "Jade" - where breezy, early morning electronics flutter away above tough drums and a mind-altering bassline - and the boisterous peak-time techno anthem "Scrawler".

Review: Rod Modell is the king of sophisticated dub techno soundscapes. His 2017 album Dawn, Dusk & Darkness is the epitome of that and now finally gets a vinyl release having previously only being available on CD. It's a fusion of ambient, drone, field recordings and synth work that suspend you in a lo-fi and grainy landscape on a rainy Autumn day. In fact, the actual sound of rain seeps into more than one track, as do muffled voices from round the corner of a deserted underground station. It all adds up to an album that makes for perfect background music but is so detailed that it will work just as well when foregrounded.

Review: Rod Modell is Deepchord's king of sophisticated dub techno soundscapes, and here he works with Viennese sound artist Marit Wolters. Their collaborative work Cocoon is laden with "paraphysical field recordings, subterranean rumbles, cosmic sounds and deep drones" that all add up to a deeply involving listen that encourages some serious contemplation. The soundscapes are mostly empty spaces that are deftly detailed with water droplets, pads that shift at glacial speeds and distant solar winds. It is a hugely subtle work that slowly but surely alters your mental state.

Review: This collaborative album from Rob Modell (Deepchord) and Taka Noda (Mystica Tribe) presents a brand new and compelling East-West dialogue in the mode of noir ambient dub. It also provides ample opportunity for these two greats of the genre to take a break from the monikers and operate under their own names - reflecting this one's specialness. Unlike the straight-up kick-centric and transcendentally meditative focus of either artist's solo releases, the pair have here conjured up something entirely beatless and a little more melodically advanced. Expect hurt, rainsoaked, and swamped soundscapes over a long four pieces.

Review: Though Rod Modell and Taka Noda are two artists from entirely different continents, they are linked by their shared interest in the capacity of deep and immersive sound to evoke unique imagery. Detroit and Tokyo thus collide on 'Glow World', moving through 10 untitled tracks - or shall we say pieces - exploring the subtleties in texture emergent from dub techno, or perhaps post-dub techno. Various organic and synthetic layers harmonize into a Blade Runner-esque urban soundwilderness, with echoes of jazz improvisation and modern classical also bleeding into the haze. It comes as no surprise, then, that the album is a result of their dual live performance in March 2023, where they improvised and exchanged ideas on stage.