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Anders Ilar :: Everdom (CD by Shitkatapult)
I hear bells at the edge of the earth. “Rare Islands” takes you there
to venture through an almost holographic space. Over the course of the
hour-long Everdom, this is how a listener may read into the music of
Sweden’s Anders Ilar. Slow bobbling beatless mechanizations, winding
and icy cool. On “Make Believe” Ilar travels into private space
wielding the syncopated drone of sequencers and bare bones percussion.
Prolonged streaming of ornate, yet subdued tones have a delicate
presence. The ghostly “Illusion of a Summerbreeze” uses clever
sample-like trickling noises atop continued reverberation. Part Aphex
Twin, part Hilliard Ensemble with a touch of something out of the land
of perhaps Paul Schutze. This darker ride is spotted with diminutive
moments of ambient flare. Each minute flows into the next here.
Chilled to sweet perfection.
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Daniel Magg :: Facets (CD by Compost)
Formerly of southern Germany’s Wordless People, this is Daniel Magg’s
debut release. This collection of eleven tracks includes sweeping
techno-loungescapes by Minus 8, Gentlerain and former fellow
collaborator Wolfgang Rüter among others. On “Set for Seizure” Magg
takes Gentlerain into the realm of Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea with a
current bent on warm fuzzy funk. “Red Earth” raises the stakes of the
floor beneath us to a level where we dance, and trance. But Facets is a
well plotted, somewhat methodical spin. Programming/editing
inconsistencies aside when attempting to follow Facets as a flowing
continuum as it’s title infers multiple interpretations, or components.
“The Last Samba” is every bit the magical latin movement, in the hands
of Magg it is a blended contortion with vibrating harmony. Again
Gentlerain abridge a form of rubbery funkorama courted by a lyric-free,
cooing female vocal. Rüter’s “Sweep” touches on the footsteps of
like-minded Giorgio Moroder, the godfather of disco. This is the
standout track revisiting the roots of early 90s Detroit. An
electro-a-go-go charged pumped rave fest, remade for for the MP3
generation. A great exploratory adventure for a first go around, Magg
proves he has what it takes to warp and chill out his peers with a
determined, understated logic of wires, tables and other things that go
zztsst in the night.
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