Review: **CLEAR VINYL RE-PRESS** Only 21 years of age when this was recorded, Ólafur hails from the suburban Icelandic town, Mosfellsbær, just a few kilometres outside Reykjavík. He as immersed himself completely in the world of delicate symphonic compositions in a near weightless orchestral undertaking. Mixing strings and piano with loops, ambiance, electronics and beats, his music fits into the Erased Tapes catalogue like a piece of a jigsaw puzzle. Debut album 'Eulogy for Evolution' took the listener on a journey, representing different periods in life, from birth to death. The first pressing of the follow-up EP ?Variations of Static? sold out on his winter tour already and will now be available in stores. While keeping the classical foundations of his debut album, here Arnalds incorporates crackling electronics and the dead voice of a machine; like vague memories of tradition lost within the digital age we all live in. It comes with a voucher for a free digital copy of the 'Erased Tapes Collection I' compilation to celebrate the label?s 1st anniversary. The 10" is a super limited clear vinyl issue, we are getting 100 copies only.
PRESS: Full feature, EP review and covermount CD track in Rock Sound June issue coming out in the end of May! Gilles Peterson BBC Radio 1 Session, Classic FM & iTunes involved in Barbican show. More press & radio tba. 'Iceland?s best new export!' ? Clash Magazine ? Achingly beautiful!? ? Rock Sound ?An auspicious debut from a promising young talent.' ? Drowned In Sound
Review: Current scene favourite Nils Frahm teamed up with Icelandic multi-instrumentalist Olafur Arnalds on three breath taking excursions through lush ambient textures on "Stare" as a surprise release back in 2012 for label founder Robert Rath. "A1" features Frahm's entrancing irresistible melody over some gorgeous all-consuming strings and glacial soundscapes courtesy of Arnalds. "A2" with its heavenly, transcendental beauty has just got to be heard while "B1" explores darker territory with its excavating soundscapes accompanying the most hauntingly delicate cello notes. Exquisite!
Review: Few artists have had such a global impact on electronic music than Thomas Bangalter, the legendary DJ, producer and songwriter who is best known as one-half of the former dance titans Daft Punk. He has many more skills up his sleeve though as he has proven since leading the duo. One is writing soundtracks such as this one, Chiroptera, for Acte 2: Retour a la Caverne, which was a JR creation with choreography from Damien Jalet. It was performed in Paris in front of the Opera de Paris (Opera Garnier) on November 12th, 2023 and involved more than 150 dancers. You can now relive it musically with this limited 12".
Review: This EP is the first collaborative work by Andrea Belfi and Jules Reidy. Berlin-based and hailing from Italy and Australia respectively, the duo blends compositional precision with improvisational freedom. During a residency at Berlin's Callie's-a 19th-century factory turned arts space-they and engineer Marco Anulli crafted four expansive tracks in which Belfi's masterful drumming interlaces with Reidy's shimmering guitars and electronic textures. The opener layers just-intoned guitar figures over delicate brushwork and climaxes with a synthetic surge and tracks like 'Oben' and 'Alto' explore shifting grooves, propulsive rhythms and dynamic soundscapes.
Review: Apparently James Adam Brown had one very definitely theme in mind with There Is Space Under Your Seat. Put simply, he wanted to explore aural interpretations of the human desire to create mental breathing room by pausing emotions to process feelings when circumstances become overwhelming. And, let's face it, they frequently have a habit of doing just that.
Recorded at ICP Studios in Belgium, after demos were laid down in his own facility deep in the stunning Yorkshire Dales, it's hard to imagine a more fitting setting for these ideas to form. A place that's equal parts bleak and beautiful, and certainly remote (in UK terms, at least). So what we have here is sometimes eerie, always stunning, packed with spatiality and a tangible emotional quality you will not be able to escape from.
Review: Matti Bye is Between Darkness & White Snow on this deeply absorbing new 12" on Northern Electronics. It comes as four separate pieces that all play out as part of a larger narrative. First up is 'I', a quiet, gloomy landscape on a grey winter's day with the gentle sound of flowing water and muted synth modulations placing you right in the middle of it. 'II' has more presence, a growing sense of melancholy and unease and 'III' allows a little heavenly light into the mix to gently uplift. The final chapter has a feeling of hope with subtle keys radiating from deep inside.
Review: Andrea Ferlin presents four stunning tracks that dive into deep house depths on this sick new HAZE release. 'OPIA' is first and features modulated stabs, rumbling pads and a sliding bassline that makes it an ideal choice for peak hours. In contrast, 'ORGO' shines in after-hours sets with its intricate percussion polyrhythms and layered sounds. The B-side shifts the mood with 'DORF,' while 'Morning Sunshine' evokes the anticipation of a classic orchestral interlude. This one is full of goodness for all sorts of settings.
Review: Cocteau Twins' musical mastermind Robin Guthrie has produced some terrific solo records over the course of his career, frequently delivering material that joins the dots between ambient, ethereal soundscapes, shoegaze and the more immersive end of the soundtrack spectrum. 'Astoria' is the latest volume in the Scottish multi-instrumentalist and producer's ongoing EP series (its predecessor, 'Mountain', dropped in September). It's another typically gorgeous and enveloping affair in which effects-laden guitar motifs, gaseous ambient chords, gentle rhythms, ghostly aural textures and slowly shifting melodies combine to create instrumental sound worlds of rare beauty (if not sonic clarity - Guthrie's use of reverb and delay is liberal, which adds to its atmospheric nature but adds extra layers of attractively wide-eyed haziness).
Review: Robin Guthrie's Atlas is a four-track EP showcasing new instrumentals that gently reintroduce listeners to his distinctive world. Known for shaping genres with his production and signature guitar sounds, Guthrie famously co-founded and produced for Cocteau Twins. With over four decades of musical influence, he's produced, remixed, and collaborated across various projects, from instrumental albums to movie soundtracks and Atlas serves as a tantalising preview of what's to follow later this year, namely more of Guthrie's evocative sounds that will no doubt continue his legacy of pushing boundaries.
Review: The seventh in this series of 7" singles is by Bristol and Avon's Kinlaw and Franco Franco and it is a rare mix of sounds with R&B, Italian rap and twisted basslines all defining the tracks. 'Crocs On The Plough' is industrial and experimental in its production - earth-shattering bass, police sirens, and soot-black synths, but background chords bring light as the vocals are delivered with guttural rawness. On the flip, the OSVMVSM version slows things right down to a crawl and the distorted synths and crunchy textures take on even more otherworld character.
Review: Shanghai-based producer Knopha lands on Mule Musiq after picking up plaudits for his Nothing Nil EP on Eating Music. What he turns out here is some beautiful stuff inspired by Oriental New Age. 'Water Play' imperfectly blissed out and liquid ambient house and dub fused into something soul-soothing. Kuniyuki turns out a magical remix that has shimmering melodies and organic drum sounds washing over you then 'Palm Warmth' is all glistening melodies, celestial pads and delicate hang drum patterns that suspend you amongst the clouds. 'Prairie' shuts down with bubbly broken beats and warped leads peppered with soft shakes and more heavenly harmonies.
Review: Daniela Lalita grew up in an apartment in Peru with her mother and grandmother. That apartment gives its name to her debut EP, Trececerotres, which is an exploration of experimental electronic music rooted in magic, healing and ritual. Lalita's vocals feature throughout, and she first came to realise their power when she learned to do different voices for TV commercials as her first job. They mesh with distorted drums and Buchla synth to make for off-scale tracks where rhythm is implied, culture is explored and moods range from bleak and intense to more heartfelt and assured.
Review: In an unprecedented collaboration, Formula 1 star Charles Leclerc and world-renowned pianist Sofiane Pamart present Dreamers, a unique piano composition project. An unusual project to say the least, we have to admit that the idea is there: co-composed between the boy racer and the pianoforte prodigy, Leclerc and Pamart jointly describe their release as a "tribute to the journey and not just the destination", and a composition that "captures the ongoing pursuit of excellence and the never-ending evolution of dreams". It certainly is dreamy, with the likes of 'Focus' and 'The Dream Continues' wringing out the stargazing propensities of all those at home and mixing it with the raw power of the figurative racecar engine, inspiring a longing for greatness on the level embodied in these two.
Review: This six-track release from the Musci archives offers up sounds that blend traditional instruments with synthesisers and electronics. It comes with remixes by Cut Hands and Nokuit and highlights the work of Roberto Musci, an Italian ethnomusicologist who has been active since the mid-80s. Musci's music gained renewed interest following the 2016 Tower of Silence compilation and got praise from legends like the late Ryuichi Sakamoto. It's dense, challenging, and unlike much else you will hear this year.
Review: This is a second new and standalone 7" that is taken from Incense Music for Bed Room, a new compilation series from Incense Music that was curated by Toru Hashimoto and legendary Japanese downtempo and Balearic master Calm. On the A-side, we delve into Haruka Nakamura's beautiful tribute to Bill Evans' timeless piece 'Soiree'. On the flip, 'Valsa de Euridice' is a rendition of Vinicius de Moraes' classic from Etepalma, the inaugural 2006 album by Nobuyuki Nakajima. Renowned as a composer and pianist, Nakajima presents a captivating interpretation that captures the essence of the original piece. Together, these tracks offer a harmonious blend of homage and reinterpretation.
Review: On the centenary of the birth of Luigi Nono, the Maurice Quartet - Georgia Privitera (violin), Laura Bertolino (violin), Francesco Vernero (viola) and Aline Privitera (cello) - reinterprets the composition for string quartet by the Venetian composer on the occasion of the 30th Beethovenfest in Bonn, in 1980. This limited edition (300) record hammers home the pensive, minimalistic innovations of Nono, considered a radical innovator in the classical music of his time.
Review: Sheffield-based experimental label Another Timbre is reissuing some of their most sought-after CDs, starting with this collaboration between Berlin-based Japanese composer and reeds player Michiko Ogawa and cellist, composer and noted classical-electronic fusionist Lucy Railton. Designed as an exercise in creating musical magic using just three musical elements - cello, organ and sho (a Japanese reed instrument) - Fragments of Reincarnation is an evocative, atmospheric and at times hypnotic piece that sits somewhere between cutting-edge modern classical, ambient and immersive sound design. The interplay between the cello and sho, gently dancing atop a bed of sustained organ chords, is particularly impressive.
Review: Excitement abounds as British heavy industrial/dub producer Shackleton debuts a brand new project, The Purge Of Tomorrow. An outlet for his less dancefloory material, this stint is more inspired by the artist's background in noise and metal, and the EP consists of two long tracks that were developed from live performances, exploring themes of dystopia, apocalypse and survival. Cursed anti-ambient music arises from the depths of Tartarus, drawing on tropes from neoclassical music to trance. There's also contributions on strings by Kathy Alberci.
Review: Ambient EPs (as opposed to long-form LPs) tend not to be the order of the day, but the supergroup known as Quiet Voices are happy to buck that unfortunate trend. With their outlook focusing on a blend of cinematic atmosphere, ambient music and spoken word, this collaborative project - made up of the combined efforts of Jean-Yves Leloup, Helene Vogelsinger, Villeneuve & Morando, Wild Anima, Francois-Eudes Chanfrault and Maxence Cyrin - is an ode to the optic-sonic spectacle of film, recalling recently similar collage pieces such as Charle Shackleton's The Afterlight in its liberal use of monologue samples, many of which concern hot topics such as death, loss, and the threshold between them and life.
You Are In The Embrace Of The History (Iti remix) (8:00)
You Are In The Embrace Of The History (Kuniyuki Takahashi remix) (7:19)
Review: Rafet's You Are In The Embrace Of The History is a thought-provoking debut released on Research Records, where Daniel Rafet Grima delves into ambient and drone music with a sense of reverence for ancestral memory. Side-1 begins with the title track, a piece that carries an air of longing and introspection. The atmosphere is rich with layers of ambient sound and chamber music depths. The next song featuring DGrima, adds another dimension with its haunting, immersive quality. On Side-2, Iti's remix introduces a delicate piano melody and a subtle beat, infusing the original with a fresh, creative energy. In contrast, Kuniyuki Takahashi's remix takes a more abstract approach, deconstructing the track into an intriguing exploration of sound and texture. You Are In The Embrace Of The History is a meditative and deeply reflective work that resonates with both beauty and depth.
We use cookies to personalise content and ads, to provide social media features and to analyse our traffic. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners who may combine it with other information that you've provided to them or that they've collected from your use of their services.