(05.12.08) Sending Orbs have done it again. Having announced a forthcoming EP by Kettel, months and months passed before another announcement that the EP they were planning had suddenly turned into not one, but two full blown albums! We love that you get this carried away Reimer, especially when the quantity of material delivered has in no way watered down the quality. My Dogan, also originally scheduled as an EP, turned out to be one of Kettel’s finest works to date – a heady, nostalgic and typically buoyant and varied full length album, and Myam James Part 1 continues this trend.
Followers of Kettel’s Myspace will know that the selection of tracks available to stream there has been in flux for a while, and that often no particular release was accredited to them. You will be delighted to hear that many of these tracks are included in the volumes of the Myam James series, though often in slightly different, and more polished versions.
It seems almost redundant to try and describe how this album sounds; if you’re reading this and you don’t know what Kettel’s music sounds like I suggest you ask someone else to move the rock you’ve been living under for you very quickly indeed. Suffice it to say that this is Kettel par excellence. It is a natural progression from the acid-tinged sound of My Dogan, but far more structured and less prone to running off on wild (but still undeniably wonderful) and elongated tangents. Myam James Part 1 is a tight collection of poppy mayhem.
“The Wombat” is clearly designed to greet the listener with a warm familiarity of an old friend. It’s eccentric, cute and rather goofy and sets a tone which the surprise smash-hit “Dolend” picks up nicely. The preview samples on Sending Orbs’ website barely even hint at the wondrous drive, joyous interplay of melody and flawless pacing “Dolend” exhibits, a high watermark in Kettel’s canon of acid-squelch tracks.
What’s also particularly beguiling about many of the pieces on Myam James Part 1 is their ability to surprise at every turn. “Kroost Kids,” for example, kicks off with a recognisable Kettel formula: acid squelch melodies and bouncy, upbeat keys, but half way through it unexpectedly melts into great swathes of sub-bass notes, cloistered chants and echoing ambience.
It is “Church,” however, that represents Kettel at his triumphant best, for this reviewer at least. It’s an unusually dramatic number, and as such stands out from the more jovial tone of the remainder of the album. A clap-your-hands rhythm underpins the achingly addictive spires of the ascending, crystalline synth hook and church organ melodies, all backed by typical 303 squishiness. The piece reaches great crescendo’s and moments of quiet unease, and then ends with a stripped down epilogue that throws in some glittering faux-guitar plucks for good measure.
“Fishfred” is another perfect electronic pop track; a singular distillation of everything that is brilliant about Kettel’s work. More put-your-hands-together rhythms are in evidence, along with meandering melodies and latterly great rushing sighs of chiming ambience. Kettel has presented us with all of these things before but never with such immaculate care and attention to detail, production and pacing. He has never sounded better than this. And it is like this across the whole album.
You could say that Sending Orbs have cheated a little by including two remixes on here. Phoenecia’s sounds a little out of place perhaps, but it bears enough resemblance to Kettel in his more ambient forms not to sound too tacked on. Meanwhile, Secede has gone quite insanely Phillip Glass and Michael Nyman on us with his remix of “Church,” all rolling arpeggios, wreaths of curling ambience, bizarre samples and wavering “aaaahs,” but it still works in the context of Kettel’s album, perhaps unsurprising given the past and future collaborative projects the pair have worked on.
Myam James Part 1 sees Kettel at the absolute height of his powers and is a triumph for Sending Orbs. Every moment is essential. It therefore receives the highest recommendation I can give.
Unforgettable, iconic, quite simply perfect electronic pop.
Myam James Part 1 is out now on Sending Orbs. [Purchase
