Mikrokristal – Hidden Way Between Some Rains

March 18, 2013 • Cold Tear Records

Like Sending Echoes, Hidden Way Between Some Rains was another pickup from the dub techno section of Bandcamp. While this album veers way more into the ambient side of techno rather than dub, its aesthetics and presentation still make for a pretty good album.

In fact this album and Sending Echoes share quite a few similarities in sound—beats that are solid but not too heavy, warm background synths, glitchy accents, and an echoing, ethereal atmosphere. Each song has a handful of airy melodies to carry it along, and the rhythms—while simple—can easily drive the music forward in an engaging (and even catchy) way; see "Bubbles" for a good example.

But where Hidden Way shines is its larger sonic diversity than similar techno albums. It also has its share of nice relaxing ambient-oriented tracks like "Kristaliniai Sapnai" and "Pingvinai Vakar" to break up the album a bit; this (to me) is a nice advantage over albums like Sending Echoes, which had a problem with album flow and pacing. Hidden Way avoids this, for the most part. Also standing out is the more organic-sounding, uplifting track "Forest Walk", reminding me of other "acoustic-electronic" artists like Bridges Buildings combined with Floex.

It's not the be-all and end-all for ambient techno based on what I've heard so far, but it is definitely enjoyable while it's on and I am always pleased to give this album a spin. While the Cold Tear giveaway is over and these albums aren't free anymore, they're definitely worth checking out—especially this one—for those less initiated to "normal" techno, like me.

7

Liquid Delay – Noösphere EP

April 14, 2013 • Axaminer Netlabel

I found this little piece on Bandcamp in yet another attempt to broaden my knowledge of electronic music with a search for dub techno. (Yeah, I haven't branched out too far yet.) And, as I've said a million times, it's amazing what you find tucked away in those hidden corners, even with free releases. Noösphere is a solid little EP throughout, if a bit derivative, though that's hardly an issue.

It would be a little unfair to call Liquid Delay another Burial or Echospace knockoff, but unfortunately that's more or less what this EP amounts to: syncopated beats that super deep and bassy, glitchy and atmospheric echoes of synths and samples. Tones arpeggiate up and down, tumbling through some rhythmically complex and satisfying percussion, backed by pulsing industrial noises. No vocals, no gimmicks, just pure and unadulterated dub techno. (Well, there's also a not-insignificant amount of straight ambient as well, but that might just come with the dub territory. I'm not sure.)

If that description makes Noösphere sound a bit generic, know that it doesn't make it any less enjoyable. It's an incredibly well-made EP and not a moment is wasted over its half-hour runtime. The tracks have a good amount of diversity and each evolve individually over time, so it's hard to get bored. And compared to a lot of similar albums, this one feels incredibly laid-back and dreamy, which is kind of neat in its own way.

Of course, being free, I hardly need give reason to recommend it, do I?

7

Audiokonstrukte – Sending Echoes

No, the blog isn't dead. I've just been very busy (and often unmotivated) lately. Hopefully things are turning around.

November 19, 2012 • Cold Tear Records

I grabbed a couple albums from Cold Tear's Bandcamp page in an attempt to expand my electronic music palette—something I've been attempting to do for some time now. Though my target was more ambient minimalistic soundscapes à la Burial or something, I still enjoyed what I got.

Sending Echoes is a bit more "normal" than Burial, anyway, as normal as minimal techno gets: sweeping background synths, warm fuzzy background noises, lighter beats, and echoing pads holding it all in place. It's a nice aesthetic, at least on parts; while listening on headphones might not be the ideal environment there are certainly some neat samples and sounds going on, especially on tracks like "Continuum" with the samples and saxophone (I'm pretty sure it's not actually saxophone, but I don't know what it actually is), or the driving groove of "Lab 31 Am Wesser". It's great background music, for sure, and there are moments where the music really does grab my attention with an interesting twist or sound.

The album does have an issue with quality control and pacing, though; since the tracks were obviously thrown together without regard for flow (I mean, come on, they're in alphabetical order!) it's a bit of a weird listen if taken all at once. The first couple of tracks are some of the most uninteresting, giving the impression that the whole thing isn't worth hearing (which almost put me off completely); only in the second quarter of the album or so do things really start to pick up. With an hour's run time and thirteen tracks to choose from, at least a couple could easily have been cut.

Regardless, it's not a bad album by any means. It's probably not something I'd recommend to the uninitiated, as it has its problems and can be difficult to get into, but for what it is, it's pretty nice. Nothing spectacular, and I probably won't be spinning it much after today, but it was worth the couple of listens.

6

VCMG – Ssss

March 12, 2012 • Mute Records

I have to admit I was a bit surprised to hear two Depeche Mode veterans making a techno record—it seems a bit out of their way, though I can understand their motives for doing so (sometimes it's fun to make an album in a new style just to see what happens). While their effort is admirable and the music really isn't bad, it's a hard album to like and I have plenty of mixed feelings about it.

Perhaps as to be expected from two musicians who helped pioneer electronic dance music in the 1980s, Ssss sounds somewhat like a throwback to the early, dirty, dredgy early days of techno, with standard four-on-the-floor beats punctuated by plenty of wobbly, swooping, glitchy electronics. The approach is relatively simplistic—and whether that's a good thing or not rests entirely on the listener, and for me it has its pros and cons. This sort of sparse production makes every bass hit, every twinging synth melody, every little glitch and pad a little bit more important and stand out (though perhaps with the side effect of the not-so-good bits standing out as well). Everything has room to breathe, as well; in fact, a lot of the album sounds like its cover: writhing bends of sound and groove with a bit of whitespace to let everything move around a bit. It's very accessible and clean-sounding.

At the same time, though, I can't help but feel a bit worn out and maybe a bit jaded from listening to Ssss. Without the conventional song structures the producers are used to in Depeche Mode and Erasure, this album's tracks seem to stagnate, repeating the same motifs over and over. There's some general variety to had on the album as a whole, but each track is either far too long or never take the opportunity to explore their own sound (good exceptions, though, include "Windup Robot" and "Single Blip"'s excellent evolution). And it doesn't offer a lot in the way of pushing the boundaries of techno, either; granted, I'm nothing of an expert in the genre, but I've heard a few early compilations of the original Detroit scene (the excellent Tresor comps, to be precise), and the only difference between those and this is more reverb. (Okay, okay, maybe that's a little unfair.)

And after all, just about anyone listening to Ssss is in it for the connections to Depeche Mode and probably don't have a lot of techno experience. That's fine; they're going to get their moneys' worth out of this. But for someone who already knows the ins and outs of the genre, there's not a lot of reason to touch this. However, it does have its moments, and for those who are interested it's not a bad listen by any means.

5

Echospace – Silent World

Yes, I'm back! I got pretty lazy last week.

June 17, 2012 • echospace [detroit]

For me it started with Liumin, an introduction to a style I'd barely known and that was the opposite of what I thought of techno as—hazy, dense, droning music, the sort of thing that was already right up my alley and I had been too presupposing to actually hear it. Liumin—and Silent World, which is what this review is supposed to be about—are more contemplative music, the kind of stuff I love, the kind that lets you sit and listen and think—maybe not about anything in particular, but think anyway; maybe imagine the urban scenes evoked by the slow crackling rain on the sidewalk or the lights diffused through heavy fog, or about what you're missing by sitting inside with the lights on and pretending to care about something you don't want to do.

Anyway, if you've heard Liumin, there aren't any surprises on Silent World, as the sound is pretty consistent: deep, subterranean techno beats combined with an incredibly thick blanket of ambience and droning textures, working together in perfect sync to create an atmosphere that's both isolating and a bit claustrophobic. The music does seem awfully repetitive on the surface (even moreso for techno amateurs like me) but there's tons of subtlety going on that might be hard to pick up on—stretched out samples, micro-changes in the way the synths and effects are handled, and one of my favorite bits: the drowning mariachi band in "BCN Dub" (also making a reappearance from Liumin). It's all too easy to get lost in the mix and the swirling drones and thudding beat and simply not think about anything else for a while. (Two and a half hours, to be precise.)

Speaking of the runtime, that is one thing about Silent World that can be a bit intimidating—really, three hours of the same repetitive old techno beat? especially the monster seventy-minute title track? Fortunately it's not as repetitive as it may seem; each track has its own traits that set it apart from the rest, like "Ghost Theory"'s skittery old-school sound or "Orbiting" and "Theme from Silent World" both being almost pure ambient. True, if you skip around each track you won't miss much, but each one still has something interesting to offer.

I still have yet to find any evidence that a film called Silent World with this as it soundtrack actually exists, but regardless this album stands up excellently on its own (as I expected). Unfortunately, for me it won't ever stand up to its predecessor—as I heard Liumin first, Silent World doesn't have quite the same magic and excitement, but they're two very similar albums and are equally enjoyable.

7

Michael Mayer – Fabric 13

November 3, 2003 • Fabric

I have a confession to make. It may not seem like it on the surface, but I really don't listen to all that much electronic music. Sure, I dabble in breakcore and drum and bass a bit, but recently I discovered how much I was missing out on and decided to jump into electronic dance music, starting with house. And I'm kicking myself for not doing so sooner; one of the very first releases I found, Michael Mayer's Fabric 13 DJ mix, blew my mind completely.

Now, I've heard house before, so I didn't come into this blind. I can tell this is some comparatively good stuff here, or at the very least it plays to my tastes well. In contrast to certain cheesy poppy French house groups I've experienced (you know the one I mean) I really dig the stripped-down, all-business approach taken here. The vocals are subdued and click with the music really well. The beats themselves are all fantastic. It's difficult to comment on them as a whole since the styles vary considerably, but there are more than a few highlights: the fidgety bass and somber strings on "Bring Me Closer", the glitchy industrial drums of "Killerteppich", the incredible dancy fun-ness of "Run into Flowers"... I could go on.

Mayer does a great job mixing the tracks together; with maybe one or two exceptions every track here is pretty great. (I'm not a huge fan of "Easy Lee" and "Love Me", partly due to the annoying vocals in each, and some of the more minimal tracks can get a bit dull.) Like many albums it does fall prey to having a bit of filler in the middle, but maybe it's more of a case of the opening and closing tracks overshadowing the rest of the mix. Still, it's overall a great collection and it really does get better with every listen. Somehow, very upbeat and very dark tracks both get thrown in together and yet it still sounds really cohesive.

Anyway, I've talked out of my ass enough and I'm sure any house veteran is probably snorting indignantly at this review, but hey, at least I'm trying.

8